Abstract
Auscultation of the vessel sound is widely used in the field of medicine such as sphygmomanometry. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurement based on Korotkoff Sounds identification have been used as an indicator of biophysical condition. We hypothesized that the sounds emerging from the brachial artery contain information of the vessel wall nature and peripheral resistance. These sounds contain several frequency components those thought to have relationship to each individual arterial condition. We analyzed Korotkoff Sounds by FFT method to detect the characteristic factors.In this study, we compared Korotkoff Sounds spectrum in 10 young subjects and 17 elderly subjects to investigate the effect of age differences. In addition, to evaluate the effect of peripheral resistance changes, Korotkoff Sounds were measured in 6 young subject before and after administrating vasodilator. Results showed the differences in sound spectrum were observed as with the differences in age. It was indicated that individual arterial condition might be revealed with the frequency component of Korotkoff Sounds.
