Mechanomyography sensors for muscle assessment: a brief review

Abstract

[Purpose] There are three mechanomyography terminologies that are commonly used: acoustic myography, vibromyography, and phonomyography. There is no clear evidence concerning the sensors used among these terminologies. Thus the purpose of this review is to identify these three terminologies in terms of the implemented sensors, frequency ranges, and muscle assessment applications. [Methods] Thus, we first performed a systematic search of all the articles published up to April 15, 2012 in the IEEE, Elsevier, PubMed, SpringerLink, and Wiley Online Library databases using various combinations of the focused keywords. We then read the articles found in the search and selected papers related to these three technologies. After analysis, 32 articles were extracted to meet our objective. [Results] In turn, we determined that 100% and 54% of the studies of phonomyography and acoustic myography, respectively, utilized a microphone as the sensory device, whereas 91% of the articles on vibromyography detected the signal through an accelerometer. The remaining 46% of the acoustic myography studies recorded the signal through different types of sensors. In addition, acoustic myography was mostly applied to the study of muscle fatigue and the control of externally powered prostheses. Similarly, vibromyography was implemented in the monitoring of muscle fatigue, balance, contraction force, and effort. Phonomyography, however, was generally performed to study neuromuscular blockade in a clinical environment. Furthermore, no specific and distinct frequency ranges were found for the sensors associated with the terminologies. [Conclusion] Hence, the findings of this review may prove useful in the selection of suitable sensors for assessing different muscles.