Fetal monitor

About 135 million babies are born worldwide every year. Many of those are born to first-time mothers who are likely to be anxious about how their pregnancy is proceeding. In clinical settings such as doctors’ offices and hospitals, there are fetal monitors that can track the unborn child’s heartbeat and other vital signs. The Nuvo Group is a company in Israel that is developing a fetal monitor for consumers, called the PregSense.

The device consists of two bands that are placed above and below the pregnant mother’s belly. It will be able to monitor the fetal heartbeat, as well as motion and position. The sensors send data to a smartphone via a wireless Bluetooth connection, where it is forwarded to a Cloud-based service for storage, analysis, and reporting. The system can also track basic information about the mother as well.

Not only does the PregSense system give expectant mothers peace of mind about the condition of their unborn child, it will also gather data that may be useful in the early detection and diagnosis of potential problems during the pregnancy. This could provide physicians and other healthcare workers early warnings so that treatment can be started to prevent the situation from becoming more serious. According to a report by Reuters, the consumer version is expected to ship by the end of 2015 with a retail price of about $250.