A heart rate monitor (40) for detecting a pulse of a person (10) employs a platform (43), a plurality of multi-axis accelerometers (41R, 41L) and a pulse detector (44). The multi-axis accelerometers (41R, 41L) are adjoined to the platform (43) to generate differential mode signals (AZR, AZL) indicative of a sensing by the accelerometers (41) of physiological motion (12) of the person (10) relative to acceleration sensing axes (42R, 42L) and to generate common mode signals (AXR, AXL, AYR, AYL) indicative of a sensing by the accelerometers (41R, 41L) of extraneous motion by the person (10) relative to the acceleration sensing axes (42R, 42L). The pulse detector (44) is operably connected to the multi-axis accelerometers (41R, 41L) to generate a pulse signal (PS)as a function of a vertical alignment of the acceleration sensing axes (42R, 42L) combining the differential mode signals (AZR, AZL) and cancelling the common mode signals (AXR, AXL, AYR, AYL).
