Cardiac murmur analysis using the short-time fourier transform

This paper describes a signal processing technique aimed at complementing cardiac auscultation in the detection of heart valve disease. The method provides a means for keeping objective records by analyzing the characteristics of the cardiac murmurs. The Short-time Fourier Transform (STFT) is used here to provide a graphic representation of the time-frequency information of the cardiac murmurs from eight different pathology cases. The graphic representation obtained shows the variation in frequency and intensity during the murmur. Some interesting observations show characteristic rising and falling tones, suggesting degrees of the pathology severity.