ANSI/AAMI Standard SP-10 1992: The American National Standard for Electronic or Automated Sphygmomanometers. Developed by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation for the American National Standards Institute Inc. This standard establishes labeling, safety and performance requirements, and referee test methods for electronic or automated Sphygmomanometers used in indirect measurement of blood pressure.

Aneroid: Derived from the French, means "no liquid." When used in relation to sphygmomanometers, generally refers to a device relying on the expansion or contraction of air in a metal tube attached to a large dial face to show measurements of blood pressure.

Ambulatory: Ambulatory blood pressure recorders are portable, lightweight, automated devices worn or carried by the patient 24 hours per day that are able to obtain and store the results of repeated measurements of blood pressure and heart rate during activities or ordinary daily living.

Auscultation: Listening for sounds produced within the body, chiefly to ascertain the condition of the thoracic or abdominal viscera and to detect pregnancy; it may be performed with the unaided ear (direct or immediate auscultation) or with a stethoscope (mediate auscultation). When used in relation to the measurement of blood pressure, it involves the use of an inflatable cuff placed on the subject's upper arm which is inflated to occlude the flow of blood in the blood vessel. As the cuff is deflated, the blood flow returns producing Korotkoff's sounds. These sounds are interpreted using a stethoscope and relate to systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Blood pressure: The pressure of the blood against the walls of the blood vessels. The term usually refers to the pressure of the blood within the arteries, or arterial blood pressure. This pressure is determined by several interrelated factors, including the pumping action of the heart, the resistance to the flow of blood in the arterioles, the elasticity of the walls of the main arteries, the blood volume and extracellular fluid volume, and the blood's viscosity, or thickness.

CNIBP: Continuous, non-invasive blood pressure measurement. For example, our Optical Sensing Product is referred to as CNIBP as it measures blood pressure on a continuous basis without any invasive procedure, such as inserting a needle.

Diastole: The phase of the cardiac cycle in which the heart relaxes between contractions; specifically, the period when the two ventricles are dilated by the blood flowing into them.

Oscillometric: refers to the oscillometric technique for measuring non-invasive blood pressure. The oscillometric method measures and records the amplitude of pressure oscillations in the cuff caused by blood pressure pulses in underlying blood vessels. As the cuff is deflated, the pressure within the cuff contains relatively small pressure oscillations. The peak amplitudes of individual pulses can be represented in the form of a curve known as the "oscillometric envelope."