OBJECTIVE Bowel dysfunction remains a major problem in neonates. Traditional auscultation of bowel sounds as a diagnostic aid in neonatal gastrointestinal complications is limited by skill and inability to document and reassess. Consequently, we built a unique prototype to investigate the feasibility of an electronic monitoring system for continuous assessment of bowel sounds. METHOD We attained approval by the Institutional Review Boards for the investigational study to test our system. The system incorporated a prototype stethoscope head with a built-in microphone connected to a digital recorder. Recordings made over extended periods were evaluated for quality. We also considered the acoustic environment of the hospital, where the stethoscope was used. The stethoscope head was attached to the abdomen with a hydrogel patch designed especially for this purpose. We used the system to obtain recordings from eight healthy, full-term babies. A scoring system was used to determine loudness, clarity, and ease of recognition comparing it to the traditional stethoscope. The recording duration was initially two hours and was increased to a maximum of eight hours. RESULTS Median duration of attachment was three hours (3.75, 2.68). Based on the scoring, the bowel sound recording was perceived to be as loud and clear in sound reproduction as a traditional stethoscope. We determined that room noise and other noises were significant forms of interference in the recordings, which at times prevented analysis. However, no sound quality drift was noted in the recordings and no patient discomfort was noted. Minimal erythema was observed over the fixation site which subsided within one hour. CONCLUSION We demonstrated the long-term recording of infant bowel sounds. Our contributions included a prototype stethoscope head, which was affixed using a specially designed hydrogel adhesive patch. Such a recording can be reviewed and reassessed, which is new technology and an improvement over current practice. The use of this system should also, theoretically, reduce risk of infection. Based on our research we concluded that while automatic assessment of bowel sounds is feasible over an extended period, there will be times when analysis is not possible. One limitation is noise interference. Our larger goals include producing a meaningful vital sign to characterize bowel sounds that can be produced in real-time, as well as providing automatic control for patient feeding pumps.

中文翻译：

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电子听诊器系统用于监测新生儿肠鸣音的可行性。

目的肠功能障碍仍然是新生儿的主要问题。传统的听诊肠鸣音作为新生儿胃肠道并发症的诊断辅助手段受到技能和无法记录和重新评估的限制。因此，我们构建了一个独特的原型，以研究用于连续评估肠鸣音的电子监控系统的可行性。方法我们获得了机构审查委员会的批准，可以进行研究性测试以测试我们的系统。该系统包括一个原型听诊器头，该听诊器头带有一个与数字记录器相连的内置麦克风。评估了长时间记录的质量。我们还考虑了使用听诊器的医院的声学环境。听诊器头通过专门为此目的设计的水凝胶贴片固定在腹部。我们使用该系统从八个健康的足月婴儿获得了录音。与传统听诊器相比，评分系统用于确定响度，清晰度和易识别性。记录持续时间最初为两个小时，然后增加到最多八个小时。结果依恋的中位时间为3小时（3.75，2.68）。根据评分，肠声记录被认为与传统听诊器一样响亮清晰。我们确定房间噪音和其他噪音是录音中的重要干扰形式，有时会妨碍分析。但是，在录音中没有发现音质漂移，也没有发现患者不适。一小时内消退的固定部位出现最小的红斑。结论我们证明了婴儿肠鸣音的长期录音。我们的贡献包括使用特殊设计的水凝胶粘合剂贴片固定的原型听诊器头。可以回顾和重新评估这样的记录，它是新技术，是对当前实践的改进。从理论上讲，使用该系统还应减少感染的风险。根据我们的研究，我们得出结论，尽管在很长一段时期内自动评估肠鸣音是可行的，但有时还是无法进行分析。一种限制是噪声干扰。我们更大的目标包括产生有意义的生命体征，以表征可以实时产生的肠鸣音，