MindMics In-ear Earbud Technology Show Promise in Detection of Aortic Stenosis and Hearing Heart Murmurs

Cambridge, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - March 7, 2023) - MindMics, a leader of infrasonic based technology enabled in-ear earphones and hearables, announced today that its earbuds have shown promise in the detection of aortic stenosis, a condition that restricts blood flow through the heart's aortic valve.

Results from an ongoing prospective clinical study conducted by Scripps Clinic indicate that MindMics' non-invasive infrasonic hemodynography (IH) technology can detect aortic stenosis by capturing in-ear acoustic vibrations throughout the cardiac cycles. The results were presented during poster presentation titled: "Can a Novel Earbud Detect Aortic Stenosis Murmur Before and After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement" that was presented at the American College of Cardiology Conference and World Heart Federation in New Orleans from March 4 - 6, 2023.

"Aortic Stenosis (AS) produces a typical systolic ejection sound detected on clinical auscultation," said Dr. Christine Shen MD, one of the study's authors. "We propose a new method of assessing aortic stenosis through IH to detect its characteristic systolic ejection murmur."

Anna Barnacka, PhD, CEO of MindMics, added, "Our technology platform offers a convenient and accessible way of building towards a future where cardiac care could be possible through a pair of everyday earbuds. The potential to detect aortic stenosis through our IH technology is an exciting development that brings us a step closer to achieving the MindMics purpose to one day eliminate heart failure as the leading cause of death globally (similar to what glucose monitoring has done to transform diabetes)."

"We are grateful to our colleagues at Scripps and the patient for an opportunity to collect data during a highly invasive procedure of transcatheter aortic valve replacement using our non-invasive in-ear device. We are excited to see that the features observed in our data closely follow those of the arterial pressure recorded with the cardiac catheter, both before and after the procedure of valve replacement. In addition, the data showed that our device is able to detect a characteristic structure of the AS heart murmur present before the procedure. This gives us strong motivation to continue our studies and expand them to include other types of heart murmurs," said Robert Ciesielski, Ph.D., the R&D Manager of MindMics.

In the study, a patient with severe aortic stenosis undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) wore the MindMics IH earbuds and additionally underwent simultaneous measurements with earbuds and echocardiography. The resulting IH waveform was limited to frequencies above 20 Hz.

Results showed that signals were detected at the start and end of systole, when the first (S1) and the second (S2) heart sounds are expected, respectively. Prior to TAVR, there was a mid-systolic crescendo-decrescendo signal between S1 and S2, consistent with a characteristic AS murmur. Post TAVR, the S1 and S2 signals were present, but the mid-systolic signal was no longer present.

MindMics' IH technology has the potential to be a game-changer in the detection and monitoring of cardiac conditions, offering a convenient and accessible alternative to traditional methods.

About Aortic Stenosis

Aortic valve stenosis - or aortic stenosis - is a type of heart valve disease (valvular heart disease). The valve between the lower left heart chamber and the body's main artery (aorta) is narrowed and doesn't open fully. This reduces or blocks blood flow from the heart to the aorta and to the rest of the body. Treatment of aortic stenosis depends on the severity of the condition. You may need surgery to repair or replace the valve. Without treatment, severe aortic valve stenosis can lead to death.

About In-ear Infrasonic Hemodynography

In-ear infrasonic hemodynography (IH) is a novel technology for monitoring heart activity through detection of low-frequency acoustical vibrations in an occluded ear canal. Biosignals associated with the vascular hemodynamics travel within arteries, fluids, bones, and muscles in proximity to the ear canal, where they are amplified by a pressure increase of the sealed ear-canal cavity and passively detected as acoustic waveforms. The technology can be embedded into wearable devices, such as everyday in-ear headphones and hearing aids. https://rdcu.be/c16KI

About MindMics

MindMics is an emerging wearable technology company revolutionizing the way we monitor the inner workings of our bodies, health, performance and well-being. Enabled through in-ear TWS earbuds, MindMics introduces a brand new science, infrasonic hemodynography™, that goes beyond the capabilities of traditional PPG wearable light-based technology, to detect biometrics at a sub-heart rate fidelity with clinical accuracy. This capability opens up game-changing opportunities to provide tangential health information to improve consumer experience across exciting markets, including mindfulness, fitness, gaming, employee care, VR metaverse worlds, and more. www.mindmics.com

About Scripps Health

Scripps Health is a nonprofit health care system based in San Diego, CA, including five hospitals and 19 outpatient facilities, and treating a half-million patients annually. The system also includes clinical research and medical education programs. Scripps heart specialists perform the highest number of cardiac catheterizations in San Diego County. Scripps interventional cardiologists are at the leading edge of heart diagnostics and treatment innovation, helping launch new FDA-approved devices to treat various cardiovascular conditions, such as atherosclerosis, heart valve disease, peripheral vascular disease, adult congenital heart defects, etc. Scripps was the first US health system to remove plaque from a patient's coronary arteries with minimally-invasive instruments and techniques and the first in San Diego to pioneer unique catheter-based treatments for complex peripheral arterial disease. Scripps cardiologists have been pivotal in the launch of breakthrough procedures such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and the invention of one of the world's first coronary stents. Through clinical research and trials, Scripps physicians and scientists continue to bring the most advanced treatments to patients with heart conditions.

( based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scripps_Health and https://www.scripps.org/services/heart-care/interventional-cardiology )

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/157478