Robust Biopotential Acquisition via a Distributed Multi-Channel FM-ADC.

This contribution presents an active electrode system for biopotential acquisition using a distributed multi-channel FM-modulated analog front-end and ADC architecture. Each electrode captures one biopotential signal and converts to a frequency modulated signal using a VCO tuned to a unique frequency. Each electrode then buffers its output onto a shared analog line that aggregates all of the FM-modulated channels.

A 678-W Frequency-Modulation-Based ADC With 104-dB Dynamic Range in 44-kHz Bandwidth.

This brief presents a frequency-modulation-based analog-to-digital converter (FM ADC) that takes advantage of the coding gain resulting from bandwidth expansion in the analog domain of FM systems to achieve high dynamic range and incorporates a highly digital demodulation approach for power efficiency. The novel architecture employs a sinusoidal output voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), a relatively low-resolution successive approximation register ADC to sample signals in the FM domain, and then a digital signal processing FM demodulator to recover high-resolution samples of the VCO's original analog input. The proposed ADC is implemented in 0.

A Wearable, Extensible, Open-Source Platform for Hearing Healthcare Research.

Hearing loss is one of the most common conditions affecting older adults worldwide. Frequent complaints from the users of modern hearing aids include poor speech intelligibility in noisy environments and high cost, among other issues. However, the signal processing and audiological research needed to address these problems has long been hampered by proprietary development systems, underpowered embedded processors, and the difficulty of performing tests in real-world acoustical environments.

Metallic Nanoislands on Graphene for Monitoring Swallowing Activity in Head and Neck Cancer Patients.

There is a need to monitor patients with cancer of the head and neck postradiation therapy, as diminished swallowing activity can result in disuse atrophy and fibrosis of the swallowing muscles. This paper describes a flexible strain sensor comprising palladium nanoislands on single-layer graphene. These piezoresistive sensors were tested on 14 disease-free head and neck cancer patients with various levels of swallowing function: from nondysphagic to severely dysphagic.

Wearable salivary uric acid mouthguard biosensor with integrated wireless electronics.

This article demonstrates an instrumented mouthguard capable of non-invasively monitoring salivary uric acid (SUA) levels. The enzyme (uricase)-modified screen printed electrode system has been integrated onto a mouthguard platform along with anatomically-miniaturized instrumentation electronics featuring a potentiostat, microcontroller, and a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transceiver. Unlike RFID-based biosensing systems, which require large proximal power sources, the developed platform enables real-time wireless transmission of the sensed information to standard smartphones, laptops, and other consumer electronics for on-demand processing, diagnostics, or storage.