Health Assessment Of Human Knee Using Acoustic

Abstract

Based on the analysis of 116 healthy and 116 osteoarthritic knees, this thesis details the discovery of knee Acoustic Emission (AE) as a helpful tool for the health assessment of the human knee. Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA) is a widely spread disease all over the world which arises because of damage to the joint cartilage and subchondral bone. The main factors, which increase KOA, are unhealthy lifestyle, injuries, and aging. Currently, diagnosis mainly depends on symptoms reported by patients and medical tests like X-rays and Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Symptoms start to appear over a years. Current diagnosis methods have some limitations and approachability issues because of the heavy machinery required to perform these tests and the cost of the test is also the main factor that this disease is not identified on time. One of the major limitations is that these tests are carried out when the body is in a static position and doctors get no visualization of the knee performance in normal functional movement. In this research, we are purposing a cost-effective method to get the status of knee health in its normal functional movement by studying the AE produced during the movement of the knee. We tried to identify the presence of OA in the knee and also tried to figure out how we can suggest the severity of the disease by using AEs. Hardware was developed with the collaboration of LUMS hardware was capable to listen to the acoustic sounds from the knee. The hardware setup includes the piezoelectric sensor, piezo film lab amplifier, and NI-DAQ USB6009. The signal is acquired from the knee joint by attaching the piezoelectric sensor with the help of double-sided tape.