title: A basic model to study acoustic evaluation of airway obstruction.
abstract: Listening to a human airway to determine obstruction is a highly subjective art and an important clinical tool. Sophisticated acoustic monitoring techniques should be developed and tested in the laboratory before they are applied in the clinic. We describe construction of an acoustic tube model to study the mechanism of noise generation in a simulated obstructed human airway. Spectral differences were demonstrated between different amounts and locations of obstruction and changes resulting from variations in airflow using Fast-Fourier transform techniques. With this analog model, systematic research can be conducted to define expected patterns in obstructed human airways for use in the clinical setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk.
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Schechter
mesh_terms: D000399:Air Pressure; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D008961:Models, Structural; D012123:Pulmonary Ventilation; D013016:Sound