Physiological acoustic monitoring system

1. An acoustic monitoring system inputs an acoustic sensor signal responsive to tracheal sounds of a person and generates breath tags and a respiration rate, the breath tags representing the acoustic envelope of the tracheal sounds and the respiration rate representing the inverse period of the acoustic envelope, the breath tags and respiration rate having a sufficiently low bandwidth to share a data channel with other physiological parameters, the acoustic monitor comprising:

an acoustic sensor input;

an A/D converter that digitizes the sensor input and outputs a digitized sensor signal;

a decimation filter and mixer that reduces the data rate of the digitized sensor signal and outputs a digitized raw audio; and

an acoustic parameter processor that generates a respiration rate and breath tags in response to the digitized raw audio.

2. The acoustic monitoring system according to claim 1 further comprising a coder/compressor that compresses the digitized raw audio to generate compressed audio data, the compressed audio data is stored and retrieved so as to generate respiration-related parameters in non-real-time.

3. The acoustic monitoring system according to claim 2 further comprising a decoder/decompressor that decompresses the compressed audio data for the acoustic parameter processor.

4. The acoustic monitoring system according to claim 3 further comprising a D/A converter that inputs the digitized raw audio and generates a raw audio analog signal for local playback and listening to the acoustic sensor signal.

5. The acoustic monitoring system according to claim 4 further comprising a transmission of the compressed audio to a remote location as a troubleshooting aid at a remote monitor.

6. An acoustic monitoring method comprising:

receiving a sensor signal responsive to respiratory sounds of a living being;

digitizing the sensor signal so as to generate acoustic data;

extracting an envelope from the acoustic data;

defining an idealized envelope from the extracted envelope;

describing the idealized envelope as a plurality of breath tags; and

transmitting the breath tags over a data channel.

7. The acoustic monitoring method according to claim 6 further comprising:

receiving the breath tags from the data channel;

synthesizing a reconstructed envelope in response to the breath tags; and

generating reconstructed acoustic data by filling the envelope with an artificial waveform.

8. The acoustic monitoring method according to claim 7 wherein the artificial waveform is white noise.

9. The acoustic monitoring method according to claim 8 further comprising:

detecting a physiological feature in the extracted envelope; and

including the physiological feature in the breath tags.

10. The acoustic monitoring method according to claim 9 wherein the synthesizing further comprises modifying the reconstructed envelope with the detected physiological feature.

11. The acoustic monitoring method according to claim 10 wherein the physiological feature is at least one of wheezing and coughing.

12. The acoustic monitoring method according to claim 11 further comprising approximately reproducing the respiratory sounds by playing the reconstructed acoustic data on an audio transducer.

13. An acoustic monitor comprising:

a sensor signal responsive to respiratory sounds of a living being;

an A/D converter that digitizes the sensor signal into acoustic data; and

a parameter generator that extracts a respiratory sound envelope from the acoustic data so as to generate a breath tag,

the breath tag transmitted over a data channel as a representation of the respiratory sounds.

14. The acoustic monitor according to claim 13 further comprising a remote monitoring station that receives the breath tag and a corresponding respiration rate, the monitoring station synthesizing an envelope from the breath tag and the respiration rate and filing the envelope with an artificial waveform so as to generate reconstituted respiratory sounds.

15. The acoustic monitoring method according to claim 14 wherein the artificial waveform is white noise.

16. The acoustic monitor according to claim 15 further comprising:

a decimation filter and mixer that down-samples the acoustic data to raw audio data;

a D/A converter that converts the raw audio data to a raw audio signal; and

a speaker that plays the raw audio signal.

17. The acoustic monitor according to claim 16 further wherein the parameter generator detects a physiological feature in the extracted envelope and includes the physiological feature in the breath tag.

18. The acoustic monitor according to claim 17 wherein the remote monitor modifies the reconstructed envelope with the detected physiological feature.

19. The acoustic monitor according to claim 18 further comprising an audio transducer that approximately reproduces the reconstructed acoustic data as compared to the raw audio signal.

20. The acoustic monitor according to claim 19 further comprising a compressor that generates compressed audio data, the compressed audio data stored and retrieved so as to generate respiration-related parameters in non-real-time.