Visual Basic Program to Check Your Heart Condition: ECG

Hello Friends

I am new to this forum, and I am just a beginner of Visual Basic.

Electronics has long been my hobby and I have recently succeeded in building a ECG sensor which amplifies the small electrical signal (just a fraction of a millivolt) from my heart to around one volt. The signal has been viewed on a PC ocsilloscope, taking the sound card as the input device. However as the sound card (and I believe ALL the sound cards) is DC-blocked, the displayed ECG signal has been greatly distorted.

I have now the intention to remove the distortion. The idea is to modulate a VCO (voltage-controlled oscillator) by the ECG signal. The resultant frequency modulated signal is fed to the sound card input via an optical isolator (for electrical safety). What I need now is a program to contiuously check the frequency of the signal so as to recover the ECG signal and display it.

The challenge to me is to write such a program. There are suggestions to check the frequency by FFT (Fast Fourier Transform). I have already found on the web VB codes for this. However how can I get the signal data from the sound card? Apart from frequency, how about the signal amplitude?

I just hope experts here can give me a hand. Or if any one else is interested in this project, I will be pleased to share my experience and we can collaborate for something really useful.

Can you help please?

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Hi,

I have to write code where I can get the heart rate and save it in visual basic 6. Could you share your code with me. Also guide me what probe or transducers (i dont know what you call them) you used to take the ecg reading. Waiting for your reply.

Thanks
iftikhar
driasaifi(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

It never ceases to amaze me the things that visual basic programmers will come up with next. It really is a highly underrated program.