AcousAF: Acoustic Sensing-Based Atrial Fibrillation Detection System for Mobile Phones

TL;DR

AcousAF is a novel smartphone-based acoustic sensing system that detects atrial fibrillation accurately using pulse wave analysis, offering a portable and cost-effective alternative to traditional monitoring devices.

Contribution

This work introduces a new acoustic sensing framework for AF detection on smartphones, utilizing pulse wave signals from wrist-based sensors, which improves portability and reduces environmental sensitivity.

Findings

Achieved 92.8% accuracy in AF detection

Demonstrated high precision and recall rates

Validated system performance with data from 20 participants

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is characterized by irregular electrical impulses originating in the atria, which can lead to severe complications and even death. Due to the intermittent nature of the AF, early and timely monitoring of AF is critical for patients to prevent further exacerbation of the condition. Although ambulatory ECG Holter monitors provide accurate monitoring, the high cost of these devices hinders their wider adoption. Current mobile-based AF detection systems offer a portable solution. However, these systems have various applicability issues, such as being easily affected by environmental factors and requiring significant user effort. To overcome the above limitations, we present AcousAF, a novel AF detection system based on acoustic sensors of smartphones. Particularly, we explore the potential of pulse wave acquisition from the wrist using smartphone speakers and microphones. In addition, we propose a well-designed framework comprised of pulse wave probing, pulse wave extraction, and AF detection to ensure accurate and reliable AF detection. We collect data from 20 participants utilizing our custom data collection application on the smartphone. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the high performance of our system, with 92.8% accuracy, 86.9% precision, 87.4% recall, and 87.1% F1 Score.