Acoustic signature of velcro

• Grant number: 15/12246-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2015
• End date: July 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Aerospace Engineering
• Principal Investigator: André Valdetaro Gomes Cavalieri
• Grantee: Caio Barcellos Palma
• Host Institution: Divisão de Engenharia Aeronáutica (IEA). Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA). Ministério da Defesa (Brasil). São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The separation of velcro components leads to a characteristic noise, easily identified by the human ear. As a consequence of this, diagnosis of some medical conditions is made by the emission of sounds identified by doctors as similar to velcro. The present research project consists in obtaining the acoustic signature of velcro, that is, the identification of the acoustic characteristics such that one can synthesize sound with similar properties of velcro, allowing comparison with other sound samples. By the identification of the salient features of velcro sound it is possible to obtain comparisons with noise emitted by lungs affected by some diseases, which pertain to the class of IPD (Interstitial Pulmonary Disease). An IPD is a broad category of pulmonary diseases that interfere in the lung interstice, and is characterized by final crepitation happening in pulmonary auscultation, which resemble velcro noise. Hence, the acoustic signature of velcro, which will be examined in this project, will allow comparison of synthesized noise to samples in pulmonary auscultation. For such, controlled velcro-noise experiments will be performed, by means of a rotating device. Analysis of sound samples using signal-processing techniques (power spectral densities, wavelets) will allow the extraction of the essential properties of the measured noise. The understanding of the associated sound-producing mechanisms could add in the study of the cited pulmonary diseases.