Breathing Detection: Towards a Miniaturized, Wearable, Battery-Operated Monitoring System

• Published in: IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering Vol. 55; no. 1; pp. 196 - 204
• Main Authors: Corbishley, Phil, Rodriguez-Villegas, Esther
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.01.2008; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Acoustic signal detection; Acoustics - instrumentation; Apnea; Auscultation - instrumentation; Auscultation - methods; Biomedical monitoring; breathing; Circuit testing; Detectors; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted - instrumentation; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted - methods; Electric Power Supplies; Electronic circuits; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Humans; Integrated circuit noise; low-power electronics; Miniaturization; Monitoring, Ambulatory - instrumentation; Monitoring, Ambulatory - methods; respiration; Respiratory Mechanics - physiology; Respiratory Sounds - physiology; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Sound Spectrography - instrumentation; Sound Spectrography - methods; Transducers; wearable sensor; Wearable sensors; Working environment noise
• ISSN: 0018-9294; 1558-2531
• DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2007.910679

This paper analyzes the main challenges associated with noninvasive, continuous, wearable, and long-term breathing monitoring. The characteristics of an acoustic breathing signal from a miniature sensor are studied in the presence of sources of noise and interference artifacts that affect the signal. Based on these results, an algorithm has been devised to detect breathing. It is possible to implement the algorithm on a single integrated circuit, making it suitable for a miniature sensor device. The algorithm is tested in the presence of noise sources on five subjects and shows an average success rate of 91.3% (combined true positives and true negatives).