Critical congenital heart diseases, or CCHDs, are a group of life-threatening structural heart defects present at birth. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 4 babies born with a heart defect has a CCHD, and treatment—medication and/or surgery—must take place within the first year of life.
Today, all babies born in U.S. hospitals are screened for these conditions using pulse oximetry, a noninvasive test that measures blood oxygen levels.
Pulse oximetry’s limitations in detecting heart defects
“Pulse oximetry has had a huge effect on reducing mortality associated with CCHDs, but the method has critical flaws,” says Amirtahà Taebi, an assistant professor of bioengineering in Lehigh University’s P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. “For example, it’s more accurate for those with lighter skin tones. And some diseases do not necessarily affect blood oxygen levels, making them difficult for pulse oximetry to reliably detect.”
Pulse oximetry works by emitting wavelengths of light to detect changes in hemoglobin. The technology was developed using algorithms trained primarily on lighter skin tones, says Taebi, which can lead to overestimated oxygen levels in patients with darker skin.
“In the U.S., about 50 percent of newborns have darker skin tones,” he says. “What we ultimately want to do is create a more effective screening method that addresses both of these issues.”
In 2024, while an assistant professor at Mississippi State University, Taebi received funding from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program to develop a screening method for CCHDs based on chest vibrations. The prestigious NSF CAREER award is given to junior faculty members across the U.S. who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of the two. Each award provides stable support over five years.
Using chest vibrations to identify structural abnormalities
Taebi arrived at Lehigh in August 2025. His research focuses on seismocardiography (SCG), a noninvasive method that uses a sensor placed on the chest to record vibrations to monitor cardiovascular activity. When there is a structural abnormality in the heart, the defect creates a distinct vibration pattern.
The method has proven effective in providing clinically-significant information for certain cardiovascular conditions such as heart failure. Because CCHDs share similarities with these diseases in terms of mechanical defects, Taebi hypothesized that SCG could be used to detect them as well.
While at Mississippi State, Taebi and his team collaborated with Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, sending sensors to record chest vibrations in newborns with and without CCHDs. At Lehigh, the team will process this data and record data from more newborns in partnership with Nemours.
“We need to first show that these vibration signals can, in fact, detect these diseases,” he says.
Expanding detection with video and digital modeling
Taebi and his team are also developing additional screening tools. One is a contactless method in which parents could use their cell phones to record videos of their newborns’ chests.
“We’ve been working with our clinical collaborators to record and analyze these videos to extract information about chest vibrations,” he says. “We want to know if a video can allow us to determine whether a newborn has a CCHD. If so, parents could potentially film their child and receive an early indication of whether medical evaluation is needed.”
Another tool under development is a digital twin of a newborn’s thoracic region. Using patient CT or MRI scans, the team will create computational models to simulate the propagation of heart vibrations.
“These digital twins will help our algorithms learn to better detect CCHDs,” he says.
The goal, says Taebi, is to develop a screening method that can be used alongside pulse oximetry to mitigate its shortcomings. Ultimately, he believes seismocardiography could become a primary screening tool—capable of detecting all critical congenital heart diseases across a wide range of patients.
“Right now, there are newborns who are suffering because the method for detecting their disease is ineffective,” he says. “Their parents take them home, full of joy over a baby that means the world to them. But these infants can become very sick. Their skin turns blue, and they can’t breathe properly. The parents are devastated. If we could help families avoid these situations, nothing would make me happier.”
—Story by Christine Fennessy
