Heart Murmur Detection from Phonocardiogram Recordings: The George B. Moody PhysioNet Challenge 2022

Congenital heart diseases affect about 1% of newborns, representing an
important morbidity and mortality factor for several severe conditions,
including advanced heart failure [[1](https://moody-
challenge.physionet.org/2022/#Burstein19)]. In a 2019 survey, it was estimated
that congenital heart diseases affect over 500,000 children in East Africa
[[2](https://moody-challenge.physionet.org/2022/#Jivanji19)], and about 8 in
every 1000 live births [[3](https://moody-
challenge.physionet.org/2022/#Zuhlke13)]. Acquired heart diseases include
rheumatic fever and the Kawasaki disease, the former being a serious public
health problem in developing regions, e.g., rural Brazil [[4](https://moody-
challenge.physionet.org/2022/#Carvalho12)]. Several regions of developing
countries have difficulties in diagnosing and treating both congenital and
acquired heart conditions in children. This is mainly due to the lack of
infrastructure and cardiology specialists in geographically large areas and
difficulty in accessing health services. In addition, the current COVID-19
pandemic poses new difficulties in the clinical evaluation of patients by
delaying important in-person patient-doctor contacts, negatively impacting
screening and monitoring activities.

A non-invasive assessment of the mechanical function of the heart, performed
at point-of-care settings, can provide early information regarding congenital
and acquired heart diseases in children. The lack of early diagnoses of these
conditions represents a major public health problem, especially in
underprivileged countries with high birth rates [[5](https://moody-
challenge.physionet.org/2022/#Tandon10), [6](https://moody-
challenge.physionet.org/2022/#Seckeler11), [7](https://moody-
challenge.physionet.org/2022/#Gheorghe18)]. In particular, cardiac
auscultation and the analysis of the phonocardiogram (PCG) can unveil
fundamental clinical information regarding heart malfunctioning caused by
congenital and acquired heart disease in pediatric populations. This is
achieved by detecting abnormal sound waves, or heart murmurs, in the PCG
signal. Murmurs are abnormal waves generated by turbulent blood flow in
cardiac and vascular structures. They are closely associated with specific
diseases such as septal defects, failure of ductus arteriosus closure in
newborns, and defective cardiac valves.

Succedent the [2016 Challenge](/content/challenge-2016/), which focused on
classifying normal vs. abnormal heart sounds from a single short recording
from a single precordial location [[8](https://moody-
challenge.physionet.org/2022/#Clifford16), [9](https://moody-
challenge.physionet.org/2022/#Clifford17)], this year's Challenge is devoted
to detecting the presence or absence of murmurs from multiple heart sound
recordings from multiple auscultation locations, as well as detecting the
clinical outcomes.