An Auscultation-based Automatic Blood Pressure Cuff

Automatic blood pressure cuffs utilize artery wall oscillations to measure the mean arterial pressure of a patient, which is then used to provide an estimate of their systolic and diastolic pressures. While automatic cuffs are designed to increase high-quality blood pressure information access, manual blood pressure exams remain the gold standard for diagnoses among medical professionals. This poses a problem, as it is common practice for hospitals to demand that blood pressure readings be made by hand, which requires a trained medical professional to perform. This project aims to design a prototype automatic blood pressure cuff that incorporates auscultation – the principle technique used in manual exams – to directly measure systolic and diastolic pressure, increasing the accuracy of the system. If successful, this prototype will provide a critical stepping stone in creating a clinical-grade device capable of accomplishing the original goal of automatic blood pressure cuffs – increasing patient access to high-quality blood pressure information.