Echo | Devpost

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that surgical site infections have racked up annual costs of $3.3 billion and increased costs of hospitalization by more than $20,000 per admission. Previously, studies have found that excessive movement and operating room traffic may lead to increases in surgical site infection. In particular, the shuffling of personnel during procedures can increase airborne microorganism, lead to accidental contamination, and ultimately be a factor in surgical site infections. Here, at Echo, we introduce a hand-free motion-triggered real-time microphone technology that will allow seamless communication between the surgeon and circulating staff while minimizing contamination.

Echo features one Arduino Uno R4, 1 Ultrasonic Sensor, 1 SY-M213 High Sensitivity Sound Microphone Sensor, 1 LED RGB, and 3 330 ohm Resistors. The ultrasonic sensor measures the distance of the object from the sensor. Once the ultrasonic sensor detects an object, the LED turns green, indicating that the microphone is ready for communication. The LED will then change to blue when the SY-M213 sound detection sensor picks up a value above the set threshold, confirming that the message is being recorded. We faced challenges calibrating the sound detection sensor to the correct value. After much experimentation with the transistor on the sensor, we achieved a base value for the sensor that could detect changes in sound volume. For this prototype, we used a low-cost sound detection sensor, but in future versions, we will replace it with a high-quality Bluetooth microphone that can transmit recordings across multiple Echo devices.

We aim to scale Echo by incorporating amplification and speech-to-text features, reducing the need for repeated instructions and cutting down unnecessary movement near surgical sites. Once triggered, the microphone will pick up auditory input and will amplify the sound to operating room staff while converting audio waves to visual text for display. This minimizes the need to repeat instructions and decreases unneeded traffic near open surgical sites. When not triggered, the microphone does not collect nor amplify normal operating room conversation, complying with HIPAA regulations. The slim design of Echo can easily be placed on loupe frames or clipped onto scrubs. With Echo, we aim to minimize surgical site infections, one word at a time.