title: A home sleep apnea screening device with time-domain signal processing and autonomous scoring capability.
abstract: Current solutions of sleep apnea diagnosis require the patient to undergo overnight studies at a specialized sleep laboratory. Due to such inconvenience and high cost, millions of sleep apnea patients remain undiagnosed and thus untreated. Based on a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) sensor and an effective apnea detection algorithm, we propose a low-cost single-channel apnea screening solution applicable in the comfort of patients' homes. A prototype device was designed and assembled including a MEMS sensor for measuring the patient's nasal air flows, and a time-domain signal processing IC for apnea detection and autonomous scoring. The IC chip was fabricated in standard 0.5- μm CMOS technology. The proposed device was tested for both respiratory rhythm detection and sleep apnea screening under clinical environment. Apnea-hypopnea indices (AHI) were scored to indicate severity of sleep apnea conditions. Test results suggest that the proposed device can be a valuable screening solution for the broader public with undiagnosed apnea conditions.
authors.forename: Jiayi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Edgar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Sinencio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055617:Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems; D008875:Middle Aged; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017286:Polysomnography; D056152:Respiratory Rate / Q000502:physiology; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000503:physiopathology*