Improving the Prenatal Care for Hearing Impaired Mothers
Team Members Heading link
- Allison Bayro
- Daniela Merlos
- Anna Metlushko
- Claudia Stampa
Advisors: Anthony E. Felder, PhD, Miiri Kotche, Phd
Sponsor: Aparna Ramanathan, Phd
Project Description Heading link
The current fetal doppler, a staple instrument used in prenatal appointments, produces an auditory-only representation of fetal heartbeats. This is a limitation for deaf individuals who cannot hear these tones and are excluded from the experience. This is an important consideration as a poor parental attachment in deaf, pregnant women are closely related to adverse outcomes including preterm labor and low birth weight babies. Therefore, the aim of this project is to develop a multi-sensory fetal doppler device for deaf and otherwise challenged individuals. The product requirement designs (PRD) of this device consisted of a two-pound weight limit for portability, an outer coating of silicone for disinfecting purposes, a Bluetooth module for wireless transmission, and a vibrational motor and LED to emit tactile and visual outputs. The device consists of two components: a transmitter and a handheld heart visualizer. The first component attaches to the fetal doppler and uses an audio jack cord to capture audio output from existing doppler devices. The embedded electronics contain a microcontroller, which analyzes the occurrence of heartbeats and relays this information to the hand-held component via Bluetooth. This hand-held component consists of a heart-shaped design with embedded lights and vibrational motors to provide a multi-sensory representation of fetal heartbeats. The ability of the device to accurately detect and depict fetal heartbeats in real-time was tested successfully by comparing the calculated beats per minute (bpm) from the illumination of the hand-held device to the bpm displayed on the doppler screen. Future iterations of this device aim to incorporate wireless charging as well as a cell phone application to store, track, and monitor fetal heart tones throughout one’s pregnancy. Thus, a deaf pregnant mother is now able to experience the sensation of the baby’s heartbeat.
See supporting documentation in the team’s Box drive.