Hip-Hop Basslines Could Power Implantable Medical Devices

Pressure Sensor A new type of miniature pressure sensor, designed to be implanted in the body, is powered by a cantilever that moves in response to acoustic waves from music or plain tones. Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University

Your favorite hip-hop artist could save a life someday — or at least control a person’s bladder — through the power of heavy bass beats, according to new research. Acoustic waves from rap music shudder through your body with ease, and can readily power a new implantable medical device.

Researchers at Purdue University developed a small pressure sensor that can be implanted to monitor pressure in places like the bladder or a blood vessel damaged by an aneurysm. The problem is providing power to such an implant without a battery, which will drain, or an induction device somewhere on the patient’s body. Purdue biomedical engineering professor Babak Ziaie turned to a cantilever-powered capacitor.

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Technology, Rebecca Boyle, cantilever, implantable medical devices, medical devices, MEMS, music, pressure sensors

Ziaie and fellow researchers placed the device in a water-filled balloon and tested it with rap, blues, jazz and rock music. We do not know which songs they played, sadly. But hip hop worked the best, Ziaie said.

“It contains a lot of low frequency sound, notably the bass,” Ziaie said.

When the frequency falls outside the required range, the cantilever stops vibrating, and the sensor takes a pressure reading and transmits data as radio signals. Ziaie said this type of measurement could be taken for a couple minutes every hour or so to monitor a person’s bladder or blood pressure.

A paper describing the rap sensor is slated to be presented at an IEEE MEMS conference this week in Paris.

Powered By Beats: This graphic illustrates the principles behind the operation of a new type of miniature medical sensor powered by acoustic waves.  Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University

[via Science Daily]