Bass-Powered Medical Sensor Prescribes Rap for Incontinence

We’ve all used music as therapy before, but what if your health depended on, say, the booty-bouncing thumps of Miami Bass? New research from Purdue University would require just that. Purdue researchers have developed an implantable medical sensor that, rather than powered by batteries, is powered by low-frequency acoustic waves. You know, like the ones that put the thump in your trunk.

The device is a miniature pressure sensor that may end up finding applications with people stricken by aneurysms or who have been paralyzed. The sensor itself is powered by a piezoelectric cantilever embedded within the device. At frequencies between 200-500 hertz, the cantilever vibrates like a tuning fork, generating electricty that’s stored in a capacitor that powers the sensor and data transmitter. The whole device isn’t much longer than a quarter.

“The music reaches the correct frequency only at certain times, for example, when there is a strong bass component,” Purdue professor of biomedical engineering Babak Ziaie said. "The acoustic energy from the music can pass through body tissue, causing the cantilever to vibrate.

Those are fairly low frequencies, which favors music with bass. Awesomely, the research team found that rap was particularly adept at recharging the device.

“Rap is the best because it contains a lot of low frequency sound, notably the bass," Ziaie said.

The device is geared toward monitoring pressure within a person’s urinary bladder, or even a blood vessel damaged by an aneurism. It’s preferable over alternative powering methods because it doesn’t need to be removed from a person’s body to have a battery replaced, and acoustic waves are more penetrative and don’t require as precise of charger-device alignment as inductively-charged devices. Also, while other devices require the receiving device to be pressed up against the skin directly over the sensor for data transmission, the team successfully read the new sensor’s RF transmitter from up to seven centimeters away, easing readings for patients.

“You would only need to do this for a couple of minutes every hour or so to monitor either blood pressure or pressure of urine in the bladder,” Ziaie said. “It doesn’t take long to do the measurement.”

What’s interesting is that, when the audio frequency falls outside of the charging range, the device automatically reverts to transmitting data. So while a static tone could be used to charge the device, music is not only way more entertaining, it also allows the user to keep transmitting data even as the device recharges. It’s a win-win for the patient, who gets an implanted sensor that they don’t have to ever worry about, provided they spend a few minutes every hour with some booming bass.

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