Problems occur in a quarter of all births in Ethiopia — and low- and middle-income countries overall see nearly 2.5 million stillbirths each year. Fetal heart monitoring is a critical tool for identifying when a baby is in distress and intervening early, but the gold-standard devices cost hundreds of dollars and are difficult to deploy in communities with limited resources.

Team Baby Beatz’s device adapts the current standard of practice in Ethiopia, which involves using a pinard horn to listen to fetal heart rates. The team has combined a horn-shaped device with a microphone and built an algorithm to filter out noise and track heart rate over time. Initial testing found the device was more than 95% accurate in calculating fetal heart rates.

“We entered the design competition because their dedication to global health innovation aligns with our goal to expand access to life-saving technologies,” the team said ahead of the finals. “The competition is entirely virtual, so it has allowed us to connect with people all over the world, which has given us a wider perspective on our device.”

Since they debuted their device at Georgia Tech’s Capstone Design Expo in December, the students have been working to refine both the hardware and software sides of their solution.

“One of the essential aspects we’ve focused on has been designing our device to be as effective as possible while still being inexpensive and easily repairable in low-resource settings. We’ve dedicated a lot of time working on getting the clearest signal possible into our algorithm by soundproofing, sealing, and making other modifications to the hardware,” the team said.