Design and Validation of a Wireless Interface for the V-Quest: A Vulvar Quantitative Sensory Testing Device

Abstract

This thesis presents the design and validation of a wireless interface for a vulvar quantitative sensory testing device (v-QueST). The wireless interface works in tandem with an Android application which allows a patient to indicate when their pressure pain threshold has been reached via an on-screen button. Using the fully assembled prototype, the sampling frequency and response time of the wireless interface was validated. The results indicated that the sampling frequency was sufficient to meet the desired specifications, and the time delay between the tap of the on-screen button and the reading of the force measurement was negligible. However, inspection of the force time-series acquired from the v-QueST device through Bluetooth transmission revealed systematic error. Implementation of a new signal conditioner is recommended before using the v-QueST device for research or clinical applications to objectively measure vulvar pain sensitivity.