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Low signal quality

Updated on 29 November, 2021

Interpreting measurements is a crucial part of research and healthcare. It ensures that the right information is being delivered to the right people, and that patients are given the best treatment possible. However, measurements can be influenced by several external conditions that you should consider:

• Motion artifact. Occurs when the skin is stretched, resulting in a change to the skin voltage at the stratum lucidum, the second layer down in the skin.

• Muscle artifact. Generated by skeletal muscles.

• Dry skin. Aidlab was made to fight this obstacle, but there can be some unreadable signals if your skin is too dry and will not conduct electricity. Air is not as good conductor as water.

• Other devices. Holding other electronic devices connected to electricity or being close to the source of a magnetic field will strongly influence Aidlab’s readings. Remember that your heart signal is weak compared to the signal collected from a hairdryer.

• No skin contact. To collect proper readings, electrodes should touch the chest. Aidlab will have problems measuring ECG or respiration rate if there is something - like hairs - between the sensor and the chest. Any dirt or mud will also influence the measurement.

• Electrostatic artifact. When an electrostatically charged person moves near the patient or ECG device, currents flow through the high resistance of the stratum corneum (top skin layer) and generate a voltage.

Signal quality

Since Aidlab 2.3, we deliver information of measurement's quality. Whenever signal quality drops to the point when the Electrocardiogram is inconclusive, a proper information will be shown: