Applicability of Adaptive Noise Cancellation to Fetal Heart Rate Detection Using Phonocardiogram

This study proposes an innovative approach for fetal heart rate (FHR) extraction from phonocardiography (PCG) signals, crucial in high-risk pregnancies where traditional methods like cardiotocography (CTG) may be insufficient as Interpretation may be quite dependent or it may produce false warnings etc. These advances attempt to address human constraints in CTG interpretation, eliminate false positives and negatives, and enable earlier interventions that benefit maternal and fetal outcomes. The proposed method utilizes adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) to mitigate interference from surrounding noise, ensuring accurate FHR monitoring. Through a multistage cascaded adaptive filter, the system dynamically adjusts stages and step sizes to effectively isolate FHR. Implementation includes an 8th order bandpass filter with specified frequencies for optimal signal extraction. Extensive testing demonstrates superior performance compared to existing techniques, offering a promising solution for continuous and long-term FHR monitoring in high-risk scenarios.