The non-contact measure of the heart rate variability by laser Doppler vibrometry: Comparison with electrocardiography

The assessment of the heart rate variability (HRV) is of utmost importance, being one of the most promising markers of the activity of the autonomic nervous system and associated to cardiovascular mortality. Different signals can be used to perform HRV, primarily electrocardiography (ECG), photoplethysmography (PPG), phonocardiography (PCG) or vibrocardiography (VCG), since the fundamental aspect is the individuation of a periodic feature strictly correlated with cardiac activity (i.e. R-peak in ECG or the first sound in PCG).

In this work, the authors demonstrate that the VCG performances in HRV analysis are sufficiently accurate if compared to the ones measured by ECG (i.e. standard methodology); moreover, the authors want to prove the feasibility of such measurement in correspondence of different measurement points (i.e. carotid artery—which is the typical VCG measurement point—and the radial artery on the wrist)1.

Results show that VCG has a mean deviation of  <1 bpm with respect to ECG in heart rate (HR) measurement; carotid artery is the most accurate site for the assessment, but also the radial artery is a valid site, even if with a reduced SNR. With regards to HRV parameters, the mean percentage deviation is  <10% in correspondence of carotid artery, and  ≈16% for the radial artery. So, VCG allows for non-contact monitoring of the cardiac activity.