thumb|Photo of a genuine Sonicaid® '''Sonicaid''' Ltd was a medical electronics company headquartered in West Sussex best known for its range of Doppler fetal monitors. The company also developed early ultrasound scanners. The word "Sonicaid" is in generic use for Doppler fetal monitors. Sonicaid is now a registered trademark of Huntleigh Healthcare.<ref>{{cite web | access-date=2019-10-09 | url=http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73025661&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch | title=SONICAID Trademark SN 73025661 | website=Trademark Status & Document Retrieval}}</ref>
== Fetal monitors == Sonicaid developed a range of fetal monitors, notably the portable Doppler ultrasound products D102, D104 ("Pocket Sonicaid", winner of a Design Council Award for medical equipment in 1976<ref>{{cite web | access-date=2019-10-09 | url=https://vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=56013 | title=Teague, M.J., Pocket sonicaid | website=VADS: the online resource for visual arts}}</ref>), D205<ref>{{cite web | access-date=2019-10-09 | url=http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display?id=92376 | title=Ultrasonic foetal heart monitor, England, 1973–1978 | website=Science Museum}}</ref><ref>Health and Social Service Journal, May 5, 1972, p.1012</ref> and D206 which provided audible output of fetal heart sounds. The original design was due to Frederick (Doug) Fielder who was Sonicaid's medical research director.<ref>{{cite web | access-date=2019-10-09 | url=https://www.shorehamherald.co.uk/health/county-news-medical-pioneer-was-modest-man-1-7776656 | title=Medical pioneer was 'modest man' | date=2017-01-16 | website=Shoreham Herald}}</ref><ref name="FielderBaker1968">{{cite journal | first1=F.D. | first2=F.R. | journal=Ultrasonics | issue=4 | last1=Fielder | title=Ultrasonic Doppler systems and their use in diagnosis | last2=Baker | year=1968 | volume=6 | pages=265 | issn=0041-624X | doi=10.1016/0041-624X(68)90181-9}}</ref><ref name="FielderBaker1969">{{cite journal | first1=F.D. | first2=R.F. | journal=Ultrasonics | issue=1 | last1=Fielder | title=Diagnostic applications of Doppler ultrasound | last2=Baker | year=1969 | volume=7 | pages=36–38 | issn=0041-624X | doi=10.1016/0041-624X(69)90526-5| pmid=5813331 }}</ref><ref name="FielderPocock1968">{{cite journal | first1=F.D. | first2=Pamela | journal=Ultrasonics | issue=4 | last1=Fielder | title=Foetal blood flow detector | last2=Pocock | year=1968 | volume=6 | pages=240–241 | issn=0041-624X | doi=10.1016/0041-624X(68)90134-0| pmid=5717478 }}</ref>
The FM series products used both ultrasound and ECG to provide continuous monitoring (recorded on paper charts), enabling clinical interpretation of changes in fetal heart rate during contractions.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://mer.chemia.polsl.pl/biometrologia/materialy/KTG/KTG-CTG-cardiotocography.pdf | title=Fetal heart patterns and their clinical interpretation | publisher=Sonicaid | date=1974 | last=Beard, Richard W. | oclc=429786231}}</ref> The FM3R<ref>{{cite web | access-date=2019-10-09 | url=https://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10545304 | title=Image of foetal monitoring system, united kingdom, 1980 | date=2008-04-23 | website=Science & Society Picture Library}}</ref> received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 1977<ref>{{cite web | access-date=2019-10-09 | url=https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfPMN/pmn.cfm?ID=K771379 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170119053815/http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfPMN/pmn.cfm?ID=K771379 | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 19, 2017 | title=K771379 510(k) Premarket Notification | date=1999-12-24 | website=accessdata.fda.gov}}</ref> and one of these instruments is displayed at the Science Museum, London<ref>{{cite web | access-date=2019-10-09 | url=http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display?id=92364 | title=Electronic foetal monitoring system, United Kingdom, 1980 | website=Science Museum}}</ref> (the "machine that goes ping" in The Meaning of Life is identifiable as this model).
== Ultrasound scanners == Sonicaid Ltd was involved in an early venture in the development of a 3D multiplanar scanner in the mid-1970s,<ref>{{cite web | access-date=2019-10-09 | url=http://www.ob-ultrasound.net/brown3d.html | title=An except from an unpublished article on the 3D Multiplanar scanner that Tom Brown invented and marketed in 1975 | last=Brown | first=Tom | website=ob-ultrasound.net}}</ref> building on the pioneering obstetric ultrasonography work by Prof Ian Donald and colleagues.<ref>{{cite journal | first1=Ian | title=Investigation of Abdominal Masses by Pulsed Ultrasound | last2=MacVicar | first2=J. | last3=Brown | first3=T.G | journal=The Lancet | year=1958 | volume=271 | issue=7032 | pages=1188–1195 | doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(58)91905-6 | last1=Donald | pmid=13550965}}</ref> They also developed the Sonicaid RTS5200 Real Time Scanner which was used in hospitals for obstetric applications.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Barbieri |first=Annalisa |date=2013-01-21 |title=Is Call the Midwife anything like the profession today? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/shortcuts/2013/jan/21/call-the-midwife-like-profession-today |access-date=2026-03-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
== Company history == Sonicaid Ltd was based in Bognor Regis in the 1970s<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s5hPWIkgZ_UC&pg=PA55 | title='Ultrasonics Technology' job advertisement | publisher=Reed Business Information | date=1971-12-02 | journal=New Scientist | volume=52 | issue=772 | page=55 | issn=0262-4079}}</ref> with a unit in Livingston, Scotland, and in Chichester in the 1980s. The company was acquired in 1987 by Oxford Instruments and developed the product range further<ref>{{cite web | access-date=2019-10-09 | url=https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfPMN/pmn.cfm?ID=K002150 | title=K002150 510(k) Premarket Notification | date=1999-12-24 | website=accessdata.fda.gov}}</ref> as "Oxford Sonicaid".
== References == {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
Category:Bognor Regis Category:Companies based in West Sussex Category:Medical imaging equipment manufacturers Category:Medical imaging in the United Kingdom Category:Medical technology companies of the United Kingdom Category:Medical ultrasonography Category:Obstetrics Category:Science and technology in West Sussex