A STUDENT at Dundee University is developing a remote method of detecting heartbeats and pulse without any contact with the body.

The project by fourth year student Stephen Doyle will be showcased today at the university’s annual exhibition of honours and research projects for students of electronic and electrical engineering, physics and mechanical engineering.

Although Stephen’s project demonstrates that it can work without the need for a blood pressure armband or electrodes which are stuck to the skin to measure the heart’s electrical impulses, it may be some time before it can be considered for production.

Brian Lawrenson, senior lecturer in the department, said the method worked by shining infra-red light through the lobe of the ear. The increase in pressure when the heart beats causes a momentary increase in the amount of blood in the small arteries of the lobe and this reduces the light which passes through the lobe.

The amount of light passing through is measured by a detector and the results analysed by computer.

Mr Lawrenson said the basic facts of increases in pressure had been known for two centuries, but Stephen’s concept was interesting, particularly if it avoided contact with the patient.

He said it would be useful, for instance, if doctors did not want a patient, such as a young baby, to be hooked up to a machine.

He said, however, that it could be some time before it was known whether such a device would be market- able. If it had promise, it would be taken up by the university’s industrial liaison office, which brought innovations to the point of patent.