@inproceedings{KoebeleHeinkeIsmer2012, author = {Johannes K{\"o}bele and Matthias Heinke and Bruno Ismer}, title = {Soundcard based Multichannel Live-ECG Simulator for Research, Development and Education}, series = {Biomedizinische Technik / Biomedical Engineering}, volume = {57}, number = {SI-1 Track-O}, publisher = {Walter de Gruyter}, address = {Berlin, Boston}, issn = {0013-5585 (Print)}, doi = {10.1515/bmt-2012-4024}, pages = {331 -- 332}, year = {2012}, abstract = {ECG simulators, available on the market, imitate the electric activity of the heart in a simplified manner. Thus, they are suitable for education purposes but not really for testing algorithms to recognize complex arrhythmias needed for pacemakers and implantable defibrillators. Especially certain discrimination between various morphologies of atrial and ventricular fibrillation needs simulators providing native electrograms of different patients’ heart rhythm events. This explains the necessity to develop an ECG simulator providing high-resolution native intracardiac and surface electrograms of in-vivo rhythm events. In this paper we demonstrate an approach for an ECG simulator based on a consumer multichannel soundcard and a corresponding software application for a laptop computer. This Live-ECG Simulator is able to handle invasive electrogram recordings from electrophysiological studies and send the data to a modified external soundcard for subsequent digital to analog conversion. The hardware is completed with an electronic circuit providing level adjustment to adapt the output amplitude to the input conditions of several cardiac implants.}, language = {en} }