Correlating information from acoustic and biomechanical signals to detect and monitor injuries to human knee joints

Conventional approaches to diagnosing and monitoring osteoarthritis and other conditions affecting the performance of the human knee (and the comfort of its owner) tend to either involve invasive surgery and/or ionising radiation such as X-rays. However, analysis of the sounds produced – so-called “acoustic emissions” – produced as the knee flexes during movements of the leg – offer opportunities to performing such diagnosis and monitoring in a non-invasive, and potentially low cost way, using portable equipment which can be taken outside the hospital or clinic. In this paper, we describe and discuss our progress so far on analysing both acoustic and biomechanical data obtained from volunteer participants of various ages and differing knee health histories performing squad – stand – squat exercise cycles.