Bridging the Gap in Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring: Introduction and Evaluation of an Acoustic-Based Smart Belt for Real-Time, Passive, Mother-Centered Monitoring with Extensive Multicenter Validation
نویسندگان
1 PhD Student, Computer Engineering Faculty, Shahab Danesh University, Qom, Iranid.org/
2 Nanotechnology Department, School of Advanced Technologies, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
3 Computer Engineering Faculty, Shahab Danesh University, Qom, Iran,
doi
10.22091/jemsc.2026.15145.1340چکیده
Fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring facilitates the early detection of pregnancy abnormalities. Current methods, such as cardiotocography (CTG), provide accurate FHR measurements but are neither continuous nor real-time, and require clinical settings. This study presents a smart belt for FHR monitoring utilizing acoustic signal processing without transmitting high-frequency waves. The device is designed for maternal use and features real-time analysis. To evaluate its user-friendliness for mothers and clinical validity endorsed by physicians, questionnaires were administered to 637 individuals and 225 physicians. This follows a multi-year product development and patenting process reported herein. Cronbach's alpha values indicated suitable reliability of the questionnaire items. Results showed that 75.5% of physicians validated the questionnaire data and deemed the recommended usage frequency of the smart belt appropriate at 5-15 times for healthy mothers and 10-15 times for high-risk individuals from fetal heart formation onwards. A decision tree algorithm was employed to identify correlations and relationships among the various variables.
