Acoustic emission sonification and magnetic resonance imaging-based kinematics for exploratory analysis of knee joints

By combining two different measurement modalities, namely, acoustic emission (AE) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), this paper presents a novel auditory-visual software environment for exploratory analysis of knee joints. Using this tool, it becomes possible to listen to AE that is sonified to indicate surface friction among internal joint components during movement, examine patient-specific knee kinematics constructed from MRI to visualize surface contact areas between internal joint components during movement, and conduct integrated analysis of a knee joint by interactive and synchronized playback of sonified AE and animated joint movement, as well as perform comparative analysis of two different knee joints by using stereo sound and simultaneous display.