A Survey on Vibration and Sound Analysis for Disease Detection of Knee and Hip Joints

The knee is the largest joint in the human body. Unfortunately, some hips or knee joints suffer on inflammation, misalignment, degeneration, trauma as well as diseases like arthritis or osteoporosis. Modern medicine can measure the joint condition or, if the joint is worn out, even exchange the joint with an implant. Endoprosthetic implants are artificial devices that replaces a weak body part such as osteoarthritic knee or hip joints. The lifespan of joint endoprostheses are also limited and depend on several factors, and it varies for each patient. In most cases total knee or hip endoprostheses need to be replaced after approximately 15 to 20 years, but some implants need an exchange after a few years due to several causes. Current methods to examine the condition of joint endoprostheses and natural joints are X-ray, Computed tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). In rare cases implant integrated sensors were used. The usage of these methods and the analysis of the assessed data require medical and data experts. However, a vague estimation of the joint condition can also be performed by external vibration and sound analysis of the endoprosthesis and natural joint during movements. This paper describes several approaches of external vibration and sound analysis as a survey.