A new method for automated blood pressure measurement.

We propose a new technique for automated indirect blood pressure measurement based on the auscultatory method. Systolic, diastolic and blood mean pressure are identified by looking at trend changes in the spectral energy dispersion of Korotkoff sounds. The detection is solely based on patient measurements, not on population studies. By comparing the automatic detection with common auditory detection, in 286 measurements taken in 15 subjects there was agreement (+/- 1 sound--400 Pa error) in 278 cases for the systole and 276 cases for the diastole.