JP2023001475A - Pneumatic vibration generation device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a pneumatic vibration generation device generating pneumatic vibration having a set frequency and amplitude with simple and low-cost configuration.SOLUTION: A pneumatic vibration generation device comprises: a loudspeaker 10 having a tightly sealed sound emitting surface; a parameter setting unit 20 that sets frequency and amplitude as a parameter to be given to the loudspeaker 10; a loudspeaker control unit 30 that controls the loudspeaker 10 on the basis of the frequency and amplitude set by the parameter setting unit 20 and causes the loudspeaker 10 to generate pneumatic vibration having the set frequency and amplitude; a transmission tube 40 that transmits pneumatic vibration generated from the loudspeaker 10; and a sensor/signal conversion unit 50 that detects pneumatic vibration transmitted through the transmission tube 40 and converts the detected pneumatic vibration into an electric signal, the pneumatic vibration generation device can be used as a calibration device for a biosignal detection device by using as a simulated signal of the biosignal, the electric signal converted by the sensor/signal conversion unit 50.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a pneumatic vibration generator that generates pneumatic vibration with a set frequency and amplitude.

Sleep is said to be a barometer of health, and we often experience in our daily life that if we can sleep comfortably and wake up in a good mood, we will wake up feeling refreshed and feeling healthy. On the other hand, in the case of insomnia or tendency to insomnia, or in the case of forced sleep in which the day and night life is reversed due to late-night work, etc., the feeling after waking up is often not good. That is, whether consciously or unconsciously, the state of sleep influences mood and behavior during subsequent wakefulness, which in turn determines the quality of post-awakening daytime activity. Thus, sleep is an important factor affecting human physical and mental activities, and good sleep guarantees healthy physical and mental health in daily activities. you can

The applicant of the present patent has repeatedly studied sleep and has filed various patent applications including Patent Documents 1 to 3, for example. The method adopted in these patent applications lays a thin hard sheet on the bed on which the subject lies, and a pressure detection tube provided on the hard sheet detects biological signals such as heartbeat and respiration. It detects pneumatic vibrations and electrically processes the vibration signals.

JP-A-2002-58653 JP 2003-126052 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-154512

By the way, in the above-described system for detecting pneumatic vibrations, unless pneumatic vibrations of arbitrary frequency and amplitude can be simulated, it is impossible to calibrate the sensor as a whole. At present, there is no device that generates such pneumatic vibrations. Therefore, when a new system is produced, there is a problem that proper calibration cannot be performed because a proper standard cannot be established.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a pneumatic vibration generator capable of generating pneumatic vibration of a set frequency and amplitude with a simple and low-cost configuration. With the goal.

A pneumatic vibration generator according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a pneumatic vibration generator for generating pneumatic vibration with a set frequency and amplitude, comprising a speaker whose sound emitting surface is sealed, and parameters given to the speaker. parameter setting means for setting frequency and amplitude; speaker control means for controlling a speaker based on the frequency and amplitude set by the parameter setting means to generate pneumatic vibration of the set frequency and amplitude from the speaker; and speaker and a sensor/signal converting means for detecting the pneumatic vibration transmitted through the transmitting tube and converting it into an electric signal, which is converted by the sensor/signal converting means. It is characterized in that it can be used as a calibrating device for a biosignal detection device by using the electrical signal as a simulated biosignal.

Such a pneumatic vibration generator according to the present invention generates pneumatic vibration with a set frequency and amplitude in the closed space inside the speaker, converts it into an electric signal, and uses it as a simulated biological signal.

In the present invention, it is possible to generate pneumatic vibration with a set frequency and amplitude based on a simple and low-cost configuration, convert the generated pneumatic vibration into an electrical signal, and use it as a simulated biological signal. Therefore, it can be used as a calibration device for a biosignal detection device.

It is a figure showing composition of a pneumatic vibration generator shown as an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the biosignal detection apparatus used as calibration object. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the biological signal detection device, and is a partial cross-sectional view when viewed from the arrow direction in FIG. 2. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the signal waveform by a pneumatic vibration generator.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments to which the present invention is applied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

This embodiment is a sleep improvement device that provides a sleep improvement plan based on a user's individual lifestyle improvement for improving the sleep state based on the user's biosignals.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration in which processing of a pneumatic vibration generator shown as an embodiment of the present invention is expressed as blocks. That is, the pneumatic vibration generator includes a speaker 10, a parameter setting unit 20 for setting parameters to be given to the speaker 10, a speaker control unit 30 for controlling the speaker 10, and a transmission tube for transmitting the pneumatic vibration generated from the speaker 10. 40, a sensor/signal conversion unit 50 that detects the pneumatic vibration transmitted through the transmission tube 40 and converts it into an electric signal, and a digital signal that amplifies the electric signal output from the sensor/signal conversion unit 50. and a display section 70 for displaying a digital signal output from the amplifier/ADC 60 .

Among these units, at least the parameter setting unit 20, the speaker control unit 30, and the display unit 70 can be executed using hardware such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and memory in a computer that performs signal processing. It can be implemented as a program or implemented using a dedicated processor such as a DSP (Digital Processing Unit) mounted on an expansion board that can be attached to a computer.

The speaker 10 is a normal speaker having a diaphragm 10a and the like in its internal space. Speaker 10 can be constructed using any commercially available speaker. An acrylic resin plate 10b is provided on the front side, which is the sound emitting surface of the speaker 10. As shown in FIG. That is, the speaker 10 has a structure in which the internal space is sealed by the acrylic resin plate 10b. The speaker 10 generates pneumatic vibrations of set frequency and amplitude under the control of the speaker 30 .

The parameter setting unit 20 is configured using, for example, a personal computer operated by a user, and sets the parameters of the air pressure vibration generated from the speaker 10, specifically, an arbitrary frequency and amplitude under the user's operation. It is a device. It should be noted that the human respiratory signal is generally 0.2-0.5 Hz, and the heartbeat signal is 5±3 Hz. Therefore, the parameter setting section 20 only needs to be able to set a signal within this range as the frequency. The frequency and amplitude information set by the parameter setting section 20 are supplied to the speaker control section 30 .

The speaker control unit 30 controls the speaker 10 based on the frequency and amplitude information supplied from the parameter setting unit 20, and causes the speaker 10 to generate pneumatic vibration with the frequency and amplitude set.

The transmission tube 40 is a medium for transmitting the pneumatic vibration generated from the speaker 10, and has appropriate elasticity so that the internal pressure fluctuates according to the pressure fluctuation range of the pneumatic vibration. Also, for the transmission tube 40, it is necessary to appropriately select the volume of the hollow portion of the tube in order to transmit the pressure change to the subsequent stage at an appropriate response speed. If the transmission tube 40 cannot satisfy both the appropriate elasticity and the volume of the hollow portion, the hollow portion of the transmission tube 40 is filled with a core wire having an appropriate thickness over the entire length of the tube to appropriately secure the volume of the hollow portion. be able to.

The sensor/signal conversion unit 50 has a sensor that detects minute pressure fluctuations in the air pressure vibration transmitted through the transmission tube 40, and a signal conversion unit that converts the air pressure vibration into an electrical signal. In this embodiment, the sensor of the sensor/signal converter 50 is of the condenser microphone type for low frequencies, but is not limited to this, and has appropriate resolution and dynamic range. If it is The condenser microphone for low frequencies used in this embodiment does not take into consideration the low frequency range of general acoustic microphones. , and is suitable for detecting minute pressure fluctuations in the transmission tube 40 . In addition, this condenser microphone is excellent for measuring minute differential pressure, and has a resolution of 0.2 Pa and a dynamic range of about 50 Pa, compared to the normally used ceramic differential pressure sensor. It has a performance several times higher than that of conventional sensors, and is suitable for detecting minute pressure in pneumatic vibrations, and can detect minute vibrations with high sensitivity.

The amplifier/ADC 60 amplifies the electrical signal based on the pneumatic vibration so that it can be processed in a later processing step, and further performs appropriate signal shaping processing, such as removing signals of apparently abnormal levels. Amplifier/ADC 60 also includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that converts the amplified analog electrical signal to a digital signal. A digital signal generated by this amplifier/ADC 60 is supplied to a predetermined filter section (not shown). This filter section removes unnecessary signals from digital signals using a band-pass filter or the like, thereby extracting signals corresponding to human heartbeat signals and respiratory signals. A digital signal output from the amplifier/ADC 60 is supplied to the display section 70 .

The display unit 70 is configured using, for example, a personal computer operated by a user, and performs display based on the digital signal output from the amplifier/ADC 60 under the user's operation. For example, the display unit 70 displays time-series waveforms of signals corresponding to human heartbeat signals and respiratory signals, their frequencies and amplitude values, and the like. Information displayed on the display unit 70 can be recorded in a recording device (not shown) such as a hard disk.

Such a pneumatic vibration generator generates pneumatic vibration with a frequency and amplitude set by the user in a closed space inside the speaker 10, converts it into an electrical signal, and records it as a simulated biological signal. For example, it is used as a calibrating device for a biosignal detection device that detects human biosignals and obtains information about sleep, as described in Patent Documents 1 to 3.

Here, an example of a biological signal detection device to be calibrated will be described.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the processing of the biological signal detection device, and FIG. 3 shows a partial cross-sectional view of FIG. 2 as seen from the arrow direction. That is, the biosignal detection apparatus includes a biosignal detector 1 that detects biosignals of a user lying on a bed 121 and a signal amplifier 2 that amplifies the biosignals detected by the biosignal detector 1. , a filter unit 3 that performs filtering processing on the biological signal amplified by the signal amplifier unit 2, and a processing unit 4 that performs various processes based on the biological signal that has passed through the filter unit 3.

The biosignal detector 1 is a non-invasive and unrestrained sensor that detects subtle biosignals of a user. Specifically, the biological signal detection unit 1 is composed of a pressure detection tube 1a and a differential pressure sensor 1b which is a sensor for detecting minute pressure fluctuations of the air housed inside the pressure detection tube 1a. and constitutes a non-invasive and non-restrictive biosignal detection means.

As the pressure detection tube 1a, one having appropriate elasticity is used so that the internal pressure fluctuates corresponding to the pressure fluctuation range of the biosignal. Also, for the pressure detection tube 1a, it is necessary to appropriately select the volume of the hollow portion of the tube in order to transmit the pressure change to the differential pressure sensor 1b at an appropriate response speed. If the pressure detection tube 1a cannot satisfy both the appropriate elasticity and the hollow volume at the same time, a core wire having an appropriate thickness is inserted into the hollow portion of the pressure detection tube 1a over the entire length of the tube, and the volume of the hollow portion is adjusted appropriately. can be taken That is, this pressure detection tube 1 a corresponds to the transmission tube 40 .

Such a pressure detection tube 1 a is arranged on a hard sheet 122 laid on a bed 121 . In the biosignal detection device, an elastic cushion sheet 123 is laid on a hard sheet 122, and a user lies down on the pressure detection tube 1a. The pressure detection tube 1a may be incorporated in the cushion sheet 123 or the like to stabilize the position of the pressure detection tube 1a.

The differential pressure sensor 1b is a sensor that detects minute pressure fluctuations. In the present embodiment, as the differential pressure sensor 1b, a capacitor microphone type for low frequencies is used as the sensor of the sensor/signal conversion unit 50 described above, but it is not limited to this. , with suitable resolution and dynamic range.

In this embodiment, two sets of pressure detection tubes 1a are provided so that one detects the biosignal of the user's chest region and the other detects the user's buttock region. It is configured to detect biosignals regardless of the sleeping posture of the person. In addition, in the biological signal detection device, the configuration may be such that the pressure detection tube 1a is arranged only in one of the chest region and the buttock region. A biosignal detected by such a biosignal detector 1 is supplied to the signal amplifier 2 . The biosignal detection device can be easily used in daily life and is particularly suitable for use by elderly people, because it is configured to detect biosignals in a non-invasive and non-restrictive manner.

A signal amplifier 2 amplifies the signal detected by the biosignal detector 1 so that it can be processed in a later processing step, and further performs appropriate signal shaping processing by, for example, removing clearly abnormal level signals. conduct. The biological signal amplified by this signal amplifying section 2 is supplied to the filter section 3 .

The filter unit 3 extracts a heartbeat signal by removing unnecessary signals from the biological signal amplified by the signal amplifier 2 using a bandpass filter or the like. That is, the biomedical signal detected by the biomedical signal detection unit 1 is a signal in which various vibrations emitted from the human body are mixed. is Of these signals, the heartbeat signal is included in the biological signal as a change in pressure (that is, blood pressure) based on the heart's pumping function becomes vibration. In the biological signal detection device, this is extracted by the filter unit 3 and recognized as a heartbeat signal. The heartbeat signal that has passed through the filter section 3 is supplied to the processing section 4 . Note that the sampling period of the heartbeat signal is 4 milliseconds.

The processing unit 4 performs various types of processing according to the application of the biological signal detection device. For example, the processing unit 4 determines a sleep stage (wake, REM sleep, light sleep, deep sleep) based on the so-called Polysomnograph (PSG) International Sleep Depth Criteria based on the heartbeat signal. This processing unit 4 is implemented, for example, as an executable program using hardware such as a CPU and memory, or implemented using a dedicated processor such as a DSP mounted on an expansion board that can be attached to the computer. be able to.

Next, verification results of the pneumatic vibration generator described above will be described. As a verification method, the correlation between the signal waveform obtained when actually generating pneumatic vibration with the pneumatic vibration generator and the signal waveform obtained by actually measuring the human body with the biosignal detection device to be calibrated was examined. A correlation was sought. SP38-M manufactured and sold by the applicant of the present patent was used as a biological signal detection device.

FIG. 4 shows signal waveforms from the pneumatic vibration generator. In this example, the cross-correlation coefficients r and P values between the set values and the measured values of the frequency and amplitude corresponding to the heartbeat signal and the respiration signal are r>0.9 and P value<0.01, respectively, which are high. exhibited cross-correlation. Therefore, the effectiveness of this pneumatic vibration generator was verified.

Such a pneumatic vibration generator can generate pneumatic vibration with a set frequency and amplitude based on a simple and low-cost configuration using an existing speaker. By using it as a simulated signal, it can be used very effectively as a calibration device for a biological signal detection device.

Needless to say, the present invention can be modified as appropriate without departing from the gist thereof.

Reference Signs List 1 biological signal detector 1a pressure detection tube 1b differential pressure sensor 2 signal amplifier 3 filter 4 processor 10 speaker 10a diaphragm 10b acrylic resin plate 20 parameter setting unit 30 speaker controller 40 transmission tube 50 sensor/signal converter 60 amplifiers/ADCs
70 display

Claims (2)

A pneumatic vibration generator that generates pneumatic vibration with a set frequency and amplitude,
a speaker whose sound emitting surface is sealed;
parameter setting means for setting frequency and amplitude as parameters to be given to the speaker;
speaker control means for controlling the speaker based on the frequency and amplitude set by the parameter setting means to generate pneumatic vibration of the set frequency and amplitude from the speaker;
a transmission tube for transmitting pneumatic vibrations generated from the speaker;
a sensor/signal conversion means for detecting the pneumatic vibration transmitted through the transmission tube and converting it into an electric signal;
A pneumatic vibration generator, wherein the electrical signal converted by the sensor/signal conversion means is used as a simulated signal of a biosignal to calibrate a biosignal detector. 2. The pneumatic vibration generator of claim 1, wherein said sensor/signal conversion means comprises a condenser microphone.

Images