Abstract: An apparatus for assessing cardiovascular status of a mammal comprising a system for locally applying a pressure to an artery, capable of restricting blood flow through said artery, a wideband external pulse transducer, having an output, situated to measure acoustic signals proximate to said artery, and a computing device receiving said output for calculating, based on said output, a peripheral vascular impedance value. The systolic and diastolic pressure are determined by an appearance and disappearance of a high frequency signal upon changes in cuff pressure partially occluding arterial blood flow. The arterial pressure waveform is estimated by measuring the wideband acoustic emissions from a non-occluded artery. The peak and trough of the arterial pressure waveform are calibrated with the determined systolic and diastolic pressures.