Non invasive distress monitoring in children hospital intensive care unit

First results are presented concerning the evaluation of the distress occurring during cry, as related to possible decrease of central and peripheral blood oxygenation. A recording system has been developed, that allows synchronised, non invasive, monitoring of both central and peripheral blood oxygenation along with audio recordings of newborn infant's cry. Ad hoc markers allow for localisation of cry episodes in blood oxygenation recordings. A multi-purpose voice analysis tool (BioVoice), characterised by high resolution and tracking capabilities, is used to extract main cry features. The method has been applied to a set of 18 preterm and 2 full-term newborns at the intensive care unit, A.Meyer Children Hospital, Firenze, Italy.