Development of a portable device for home monitoring of sleep disorders based on snoring detection

Details

Supervisors

Legat, Jean-Didier ; Doguet, Pascal

Faculty

Ecole polytechnique de Louvain

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur civil biomédical

Abstract

Sleep-related breathing disorders (SRBD) are a very common cause of reduced quality of sleep. They encompass a broad range of conditions from primary snoring to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Currently, those sleep disorders are managed in sleep clinics and often require overnight polysomnography. Unfortunately, while being considered as the gold standard for evaluation of patients' status during sleep, this study has many disadvantages in terms of price, patient comfort, waiting lists or practicality. Focusing on the automated detection of snoring patterns which is a key symptom in those disorders, we have developed a new wearable sleep monitoring device. Snoring detection is enabled by a piezoelectric sensor and the real-time detection algorithm is embedded in the platform. In this thesis, after an in-depth description of SRBD and state-of the-art sleep evaluation methods, the development of the system is detailed for both hardware and software aspects. The device has been validated during overnight studies on snoring and non-snoring subjects in their home environment. The results of those trials demonstrate a detection performance equal or higher compared to state-of-the-art solutions. Users feedback show high satisfaction rate, low impact on the quality of sleep and ease of use even without the help of trained personnel.