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A new mechanical index for gauging the human bioeffects of low frequency ultrasound

Ahmadi, Farzaneh, McLoughlin, Ian Vince (2013) A new mechanical index for gauging the human bioeffects of low frequency ultrasound. In: Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE. Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2013 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE. . pp. 1964-1967. IEEE (doi:10.1109/EMBC.2013.6609913) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:48766)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided. (Contact us about this Publication)
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/EMBC.2013.6609913

Abstract

Low frequency ultrasound has a diverse set of industrial and medical applications ranging from high power industrial ultrasound equipment through to various therapeutic medical applications. In recent years, several speech interface applications have also been developed which exploit the low ultrasonic frequency region to augment human-computer interfacing. These devices tend to operate just above the threshold of human hearing where signals can be generated and detected using off-the-shelf audio hardware components. Mechanical index has long been one of the main criteria used for determining safety limits for human exposure to ultrasound, however it is known to be inaccurate below about 500 kHz. This paper revisits the mathematical and physical foundations of the mechanical index, in particular transient cavitation, and applies these to the low-frequency ultrasound region. Simulations are performed to evaluate the effects on both blood and water. From the results, a new mechanical index formulation is proposed, which extends down to significantly lower frequencies. The aim is to provide a gauge for determining bio-effects of emerging and future low frequency ultrasonic applications operating around 20 kHz to 100 kHz.

Item Type: Conference or workshop item (Paper)
DOI/Identification number: 10.1109/EMBC.2013.6609913
Subjects: T Technology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences > School of Computing
Depositing User: Ian McLoughlin
Date Deposited: 25 Aug 2015 09:49 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2021 13:25 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/48766 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

McLoughlin, Ian Vince.

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7111-2008
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