Total hip replacement monitoring: numerical models for the acoustic emission technique.

Any mechanical instability associated with total hip replacement (THR) excites elastic waves with different frequencies and propagates through the surrounding biological layers. Using the acoustic emission (AE) technique as a THR monitoring tool provides valuable information on structural degradations associated with these implants. However, several factors can compromise the reliability of the signals detected by AE sensors, such as attenuation of the detected signal due to the presence of biological layers in the human body between prosthesis (THR) and AE sensor.