Alderson Benjamin, Osman A, El-Sayed Mahmoud Ahmed, Essa Khamis
School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT, UK.
Marine and Offshore Engineering Department, College of Engineering and Technology, Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport, Alexandria, 21599, Egypt.
Med Biol Eng Comput. 2025 Jun;63(6):1849-1866. doi: 10.1007/s11517-025-03305-1. Epub 2025 Jan 31.
Labour commencement diagnosis is still challenging in obstetrics. The majority of scientific techniques that were used to determine labour are costly and require a professional healthcare personnel to be carried out. Hence, in this work, an experiment was conducted using a 3D-printed 50% scale model of the abdomen of an average 40-week pregnant woman. The aim was to test whether the internal pressure can be evaluated from the reflection of the sound waves emitted by a smartphone. Frequencies of 4 kHz and 20 kHz were triggered at multiple distances (0.17, 0.34, 0.51 m) after inflating the 3D-printed model with water. The reflection coefficients and internal pressure were determined to have a positive linear correlation, suggesting that the hypothesis is practical. However, as the distances decreased, the reflection coefficient plateaued, indicating that the material had attained its maximum reflection coefficient at that frequency. Due to its reduced error and non-audible properties as compared to 4Hz, 20 kHz was suggested to be an optimum frequency for measuring pressure, allowing it for pain-free application for an extended amount of time.
在产科中，分娩开始的诊断仍然具有挑战性。大多数用于确定分娩的科学技术成本高昂，并且需要专业医护人员来实施。因此，在这项研究中，使用平均怀孕40周孕妇腹部的3D打印50%比例模型进行了一项实验。目的是测试是否可以通过智能手机发出的声波反射来评估内部压力。在用3D打印模型注水后，在多个距离（0.17、0.34、0.51米）触发4千赫和20千赫的频率。确定反射系数与内部压力呈正线性相关，这表明该假设是可行的。然而，随着距离减小，反射系数趋于平稳，表明该材料在该频率下已达到其最大反射系数。与4赫兹相比，由于其误差较小且无听觉特性，20千赫被认为是测量压力的最佳频率，可实现长时间无痛应用。
