What Your Heart Can Tell You with the Heart Sound Recorder— A Functional Heart Assessment

A New Way to Listen to Your Body

At The Hayden Institute, Liz Taylor, Holistic Nutritionist, utilizes the Heart Sound Recorder (HSR) to perform nutrition-focused functional heart assessments that help reveal how your body responds to stress, nutrition, nervous system imbalance, and more. This tool offers a unique window into your heart health that traditional tests often miss. It gives us a real-time view of how your heart is functioning nutritionally. Yes, nutritionally! And that’s a big deal.

As a holistic nutrition practitioner, I’ve always been fascinated by how much the body can communicate. Long before something shows up in bloodwork or becomes a full-blown health crisis, our body sends us signals. I’ve seen time and time again how early signs whisper before they shout.

What Is the Heart Sound Recorder?

The Heart Sound Recorder (or HSR) is a low-risk, non-invasive device that records the sounds, vibrations, and rhythms of your heart. It works a little like a supercharged stethoscope combined with a seismograph, but instead of just listening, it charts your heart’s rate, rhythm, and tone on a graph in real time.

That visual graph can offer valuable clues about the nutritional status of your heart muscle. Through specialized training I am able to interpret the graphs recorded and give a nutritional analysis of the heart.

Originally developed in the early 1900s, the concept was pioneered by Dr. Royal Lee, founder of Standard Process. He believed that “the heart is the most sensitive indicator of nutritional status,” and the HSR was designed to detect these subtle shifts in heart performance.

What we see on the real-time heart health scan can be influenced by how well your nervous system is regulating your heart, how balanced your minerals are (think calcium, magnesium, potassium), and whether your diet is supplying enough B vitamins or essential fatty acids. It’s like eavesdropping on your body’s nutritional needs through your heartbeat.

Why would I get a Heart Sound Recorder Scan?

That’s a fair question. Most people expect to have their heart checked when something feels wrong—like palpitations, blood pressure spikes, or chest tightness. But what if your heart could show us something before it gets to that point?

That’s the real beauty of the Heart Sound Recorder. I’ve had people come in feeling “generally off.” They aren’t sleeping well, struggling with energy, feeling emotionally drained. The scan helped us identify patterns pointing to specific nutritional stress.

It’s also useful as a progress tool. If you’re making lifestyle or supplement changes, especially with whole food nutrition, the scan can help track how your heart responds over time. Sometimes people feel better before we can measure it in lab work. The HSR picks up on those early functional shifts.

What to Expect During Your Heart Sound Recorder Session

The process is simple and stress-free. You’ll sit down and relax while I place a small sensor on your chest at four different valve locations. No needles. No wires. Nothing invasive.

The whole scan takes about 10 to 15 minutes, and you’ll see your heart’s graph immediately. At your follow up visit we’ll talk through what we’re seeing and how it might relate to your symptoms or nutritional needs.

It’s important to say again—this isn’t a diagnostic tool. I’m not a cardiologist, and the Heart Sound Recorder doesn’t diagnose heart disease. But it can help us recognize stress patterns, nutritional deficiencies, and nervous system imbalances that might be affecting your wellness even if you’re not “sick.” The heart responds to nutrition quicker than any other organ in the body and sometimes we can see improvements within minutes. The heart is incredibly responsive when you give it the right support.

A Real Client Story: Stress, Digestion, and Adrenal Fatigue

One of my recent clients—a 40-year-old homeschooling mom—came in feeling completely burned out. Between the stress of daily life, digestive discomfort, and lingering concerns about her kidney function, she was running on fumes. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she knew something was off.

When we reviewed her Heart Sound Recorder graph, it painted a powerful picture that helped us understand what her body was trying to communicate.

The imbalance between her S1 and S2 sounds in her Mitral valve suggested her heart muscle needed more tone and strength, so I recommended Cardiotrophin PMG to support that foundational function. Her graph also indicated low motor nerve conductivity, which often correlates with a need for B vitamins, specifically B1 and B4, so we added Cataplex B-Core to help restore that balance.

An elevated S2 on the Aortic valve pointed to possible blood viscosity issues. This can happen when the body isn’t breaking down proteins or fats efficiently, so we discussed support with Zypan for protein digestion, and AF Betafood or Soybean Lecithin for fat metabolism. Her pulmonic valve showed increased S2 sounds as well, which is commonly a sign of adrenal fatigue, which made perfect sense given how overextended she felt. For this, we explored adrenal support options like Adrenal Desiccated or Drenamin.

What I love about this tool is how clearly it reflects what a client is feeling, sometimes even before they can put it into words. Her heart gave us a roadmap to address her stress, restore energy, and help her body start healing from the inside out.

How the Heart Sound Recorder Has Helped Other Clients

• Fatigue and low stamina: A middle-aged woman struggling with afternoon crashes showed a low, dragging first heart sound. With targeted B vitamin support and adrenal-focused nutrition, her tone improved along with her energy levels. She didn’t need caffeine or more sleep. She needed nutrients.
• Stress and emotional burnout: One scan showed an erratic rhythm that correlated with a high-stress nervous system overload. Supporting her with minerals and calming nutrients brought her pattern into a more even flow and perhaps more importantly, helped her feel more like herself again.
• Digestive stress connection: Another client had tightness and heart fluttering that didn’t show up in traditional cardiac testing. Her HSR scan showed patterns commonly linked with nutritional imbalances affecting digestion and absorption. Supporting her gut made a measurable difference—and she stopped feeling like something was “just not right.”

Top Supplements That Support Heart Sound Recorder Findings

When working with Heart Sound Recorder data, certain whole food supplements can be especially impactful in restoring balance, improving function, and supporting the body’s stress response. Here are a few of the top foundational tools I frequently use:

Cardiotrophin PMG: Supports heart muscle tone and regeneration
This protomorphogen-based supplement is often recommended when we see a diminished S1 sound which is an indication the heart muscle may be tired or lacking tone. It provides targeted support for cardiac tissue, helping the heart regain strength and resiliency.

Cataplex B-Core: Supports nerve conductivity and energy production
When motor nerve conductivity is low it is reflected in muted heart sounds or rhythm irregularities. This B vitamin blend is essential and includes B1 and B4, which are critical for nerve signaling, energy conversion, and overall cardiovascular efficiency.

Organically Bound Minerals: Provides trace minerals needed for nervous system health
If the heart sounds lack “spark” or timing or there is lots of noise and disturbances indicating autonomic nervous system imbalance (stuck in flight or fight mode), trace mineral deficiencies may be playing a role. This gentle formula supports pH balance, glandular health, and metabolic function, especially in clients with long-term stress or mineral deficiencies.

Cataplex B2: Supports circulation, nerve tone, and stress recovery
When heart sounds show tension or the body feels “stuck” in a stress loop, Cataplex B2 can help improve blood flow and nervous system tone. It’s often indicated when stress patterns show up in the graph, helping release tight, overstimulated systems.

Cataplex F: Supports healthy inflammatory response and healthy fat metabolism, balances calcium activity
This one comes into play when heart sounds are overly sharp, loud, or electrically irritable. Cataplex F helps calm that overactivity by supporting proper calcium utilization and essential fatty acid metabolism. It’s a powerful partner when your body needs to cool inflammation and settle the nervous system.

Zypan: Aids in protein digestion and assimilation
Poor digestion of proteins can lead to increased blood viscosity, which may present as an elevated S2 sound on the aortic valve. Zypan supports proper hydrochloric acid production and provides intrinsic factor, ensuring the body can access the amino acids it needs.

AF Betafood and Soybean Lecithin: Supports healthy fat metabolism and liver/gallbladder function
An S2 elevation on the aortic valve can also suggest issues with blood fats. These two supplements help emulsify fats, support bile flow, and reduce the burden on the liver and gallbladder which is vital for overall heart health and blood viscosity.

Drenamin: Supports adrenal health and the stress response
An elevated S2 on the pulmonic valve often signals adrenal fatigue. Drenamin provides a blend of adrenal tissue, B vitamins, and vitamin C to nourish exhausted adrenal glands and support healthy stress resilience.

Cataplex E2: Promotes oxygen flow and cardiovascular stamina
If heart sounds show signs of fatigue or the client experiences shortness of breath, Cataplex E2 helps increase oxygen utilization and circulation which is especially valuable for those with exercise intolerance or sluggish cardiovascular tone.

Is It time to Open the Window to What Your Heart Is Trying to Tell You?

If you’re working on improving your energy, sleep, digestion, or stress resilience, or just want a better understanding of how your body is functioning beneath the surface, the Heart Sound Recorder may be the tool you’ve been looking for.

This non-diagnostic, real-time heart scan helps uncover nutritional and nervous system imbalances that traditional lab work often overlooks.

At The Hayden Institute, I offer these holistic heart health assessments to help clients uncover the nutritional and functional patterns behind what they’re feeling day to day. Whether you’re looking for natural ways to support your cardiovascular system or simply feel like something is off and you’re not getting answers from other approaches, this may be the insight you need. You can call us directly to schedule your session, or if that feels like too much right now, just use the contact form on our website and someone from our team will reach out to help you.

We often think of the heart in poetic terms—our desires, our passion, even love itself. And yet, when we listen closely, your heart is also one of the most honest and responsive communicators your body has. The Heart Sound Recorder simply gives us a way to listen more closely. Let’s open that window together and discover what your heart wants to tell you.

→ Ready to schedule your Heart Sound Recorder session? Click here to get started.