It has been brought to my attention that my comment yesterday was not
worded well and could easily be misunderstood.

I mentioned "heart rate monitor" but that is not exactly what I meant.
Apologies for any confusion.

The apps I was referring to are not simple heart rate monitors. Those
are a dime a dozen. I was referring to more sophisticated software that
monitors blood flow and gives an ECG-like reading. (Strictly speaking,
it is not an electrocardiogram because it measures blood flow using
light, not electrical signals of the heart.)

You might be familiar with a device called a Pulse Oximeter. This is a
gadget that (typically) fits over the tip of your finger and measures
blood flow optically. They are common in hospitals and medical offices.
Some of them can also give you a reading of real-time blood pressure
differences in graph form, which looks similar (but not identical) to
an ECG. So I want to make sure to point out the difference: while an
optical reading of blood flow can allow you to follow many aspects of
heart contractions, and looks much like an ECG, it is not an ECG and
does not take the place of an ECG.

What I meant yesterday was that if someone at home does not have the
budget for a more sophisticated device such as AliveCor, a cheaper
method of monitoring the subject's heart may be better than nothing.
And because these devices use light, they might also work with ferrets
to some degree. Though of course no matter what kind of instrument you
use, we all know that getting them to hold still can be a problem. :o)
And because they use light, they probably would not be useful on a
ferret that wasn't bald or shaved anyway.

I looked though some of the free Android apps that do this today. And I
can tell you that many of them -- maybe most of them -- are pure junk.
Most of them are literally just pulse rate monitors and do not give you
a readout of actual heart activity. Of those that do more, many are not
very precise (or accurate, which is not quite the same thing). Also,
I did not find one that saves the chart. Possibly some of the paid
versions do, I do not know. The best workaround I know of is to set up
screen capture on the power button so you can do a screen capture of
the graph. (Trying to hold down buttons simultaneously for a screen
capture is difficult while trying to take a reading.)

There are also apps that act as electronic stethoscopes, especially
with an external microphone. The "MedAlyser" app looks promising in
this respect, though it is rather complicated, with rather large array
of different audio filters and such. Trying to actually test how well
it worked would have taken more time than I had for a brief look.

The heart monitoring apps I found which appear as though they might
actually be useful are QuickHRM, HeartRate++, Heart Rate Monitor (by
Mobile Essentials... there are others with similar names.), Heart Rate
by Runtastic (though I'm not sure that one is really suitable) and the
best one I found: Cardiodroid. That last one gave a very good readout
but does not support the camera flash, so there must be adequate
external light.

The Google Play store also carries the official Android app for the
AliveCor device, and other apps for actual certified ECG equipment.
Those only work with the external ECG devices they are intended for.

In summary: I am not making any sort of broad medical claims for these
apps, though one of them on the site claims to be medically certified
in France (but that one would not work on my hardware). I am NOT saying
these are adequate replacements for proper medical equipment. But if
someone has a genuine use for that kind of device at home, but does not
have the budget for anything fancy, one of those apps MIGHT BE better
than nothing.

Lonny Eachus

[Posted in FML 8044]