An acoustic screening test for obstructive sleep apnoea.
Third-octave sound analysis was performed on the snoring sounds of nine subjects with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and 18 with simple snoring. Both groups demonstrated a large low frequency peak in linear sound levels at around 80 Hz. However, the OSA group displayed a substantially larger high frequency sound component. We utilized this fact in the development of an acoustic index (Hawke Index: HI) which describes the ratio between the overall A-weighted and linear sound levels for the recorded snoring sound of each subject [HI = dB(A)/dB(SPL) for Lmax]. There was a significant positive correlation between the apnoea/hypopnoea index and the HI (r = 0.73, t = 5.3, 25df, P < 0.001). If a value of 0.90 or greater was taken as diagnostic of OSA, the HI exhibited 67% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% positive and 86% negative predictive accuracy. With further development, we believe this acoustic phenomena may have a role as a screening test in the diagnosis of OSA.
Department of Otolaryngology University of Toronto, Canada.
A W
AW
McCombe
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V
Kwok
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Hawke
D000162:Acoustics; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012913:Snoring