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Sensing Baby Kicks

ipv1

I have made a belt for sensing when our unborn child kicks from the inside. This is useful for tracking activity and health of the baby. In my current configuration, I am using a piezoelctric sensor strip but there are a few issues.

  1. The strip is small and cannot cover a large surface area.
  2. It will not discriminate between kicks and movement caused by the mother herself.


I was able to condition the signals and send them over BTLE but the sensor is an issue.

Can anyone suggest? Thanks.

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  • in reply to kholt62

    Early learning is a fascinating topic. I have some very old memories of sensations from before I could talk. I cannot vocalize them well because I had no language to describe them, but some sensations trigger those memories.

    Lots of studies show that unborn babies respond to sounds and music, altering their activity or their heart rate. Some studies show that late in pregnancy babies can even recognize their mother's voice.

    Beyond just providing richer stimulation through audio, it would be interesting to provide information, in case it is possible for some level of learning. For example if they always hear "standing up" when the mom stands up or "lying down" when she lays down, maybe they would start to associate words with sensations they are actually experiencing.

    Or if they always hear "kick" when they kick, maybe they would associate with the action. It would be cool if you could say kick and the baby kicks in response.

    Of course the Mom could just talk to her baby, but acoustic coupling from air to a body is very inefficient and dramatically attenuated.

    I would use a surface driver like bone conduction headphones to provide audio at a low volume - it wouldn't require much volume to couple into n the womb, since the surface driver would directly vibrate the Mom's skin surface. The system could be used to talk to a baby more efficiently, or it could be used to provide automated feedback based on sensors such as a kick sensor or a tilt sensor.

    Many mothers have tried audio stimulation of their babies and some claim it is a critical part of early development, but it is wise to check out what is considered safe and what others' experiences have been.