簡便型生体硬さ計の開発

抄録

The measurement of a hardness on the human body has been anticipated in a basic and clinical medicine, a skin science, and other various fields. Some indexes of hardness on the human body, which have been based on a dynamic measurement in vivo, have been reported, but there are few to lead to a practical application i. e. an evaluation of palpation.
In order to realize a practical application, a hardness-meter for the human body has been developed. This measurement system uses a single sinusoidal vibration to simplify both its hardware and software. SH (Skin Hardness), which expresses mechanical mobility, is proposed as a new index of hardness. The measuring probe is designed as a handy type to measure almost all around the human body and the whole system is a portable type. The forced vibrating and the detection of acceleration are realized by a piezo-electric element of bi-morph type. Besides, the measuring error, the proper measuring conditions and the relations between SH and the other indexes are made clear.