Josh is spending three months in London working on his research with Professor Panayiotis Kyriacou.
In his research Josh uses Photoplethysmography (PPG) which is a simple, low cost, and non-invasive optical technique for monitoring cardiopulmonary function. Current interest in this technology has extended beyond conventional heart rate and oxygen saturation monitoring. Many researchers have shown correlations between morphological parameters of the PPG and cardiovascular disorders such as atherosclerosis, arterial endothelial dysfunction, and hypertension. However, these correlations should be observed with caution as the measurement conditions can significantly affect PPG readings. One condition, contact pressure (CP), is the pressure the probe applies to the measured tissue and is known to affect signal fidelity. Historically, CP has been observed to affect PPG pulse amplitude and signal-to-noise ratio, but an in-depth analysis of its effect on PPG morphology is missing from the available literature. Therefore, our current study collects PPG data from healthy individuals at varying contact pressures. The hypothesis is that PPG morphological parameters will be significantly affected by CP changes and that CP should be measured when using PPG to extract cardiovascular indices.
