SonoAssist: Open source acquisition software for ultrasound imaging studies

Abstract

We present “SonoAssist”, an open-source acquisition software designed to facilitate the development of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) assistance systems by simplifying the data collection process. This software caters to research utilizing ultrasound images along with gaze data or probe movement measurements to tackle tasks like standard scan plane detection, anatomical landmark detection, and ultrasound probe guidance. Through SonoAssist’s simple interface, users can easily collect data from the following sensors: an ultrasound probe, an RGBD camera, an eye tracker, a screen recorder, and IMUs (Inertial Measurement Unit). Furthermore, SonoAssist timestamps data as they are acquired with a single time reference, removing the need for additional synchronization steps. To document the software’s performance, we characterized the synchronization between the ultrasound image and IMU data streams, the eye tracker accuracy, and the acquisition frequencies (ultrasound probe: 22 Hz, eye tracker: 87 Hz, external IMU: 100 Hz, screen recorder: 13Hz).