They're a staple of every hospital television show: to get the beeping signal of an electrocardiograph, medics hurriedly attach electrodes to a patient's skin. Now Robert Prance and his colleagues at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK, have found a way to measure the electrical signals of a person's breathing and heartbeat remotely.
Their sensor detected clear signals from both the front and back of a seated subject, up to 40 centimetres away, in a laboratory full of distracting electrical noise. Other techniques exist that can remotely discern the tiny movements of the heart and lungs, but those systems actively irradiate their subject with laser light or microwaves.
The researchers note that their passive system could be used for security and healthcare, and perhaps even to detect driver drowsiness.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Electrophysiology: On the pulse. Nature 454, 920 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/454920b
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/454920b
