(Invited) Paper Based Wearable Standalone Wheezing Sensor - Not a Low Dimensional System

Abstract

We present a sensor made from paper using a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) integration strategy that can be attached to the human chest like a stethoscope for real-time asthma symptom monitoring. The sensor is designed such that it resonates around the dominant frequency of wheezing (a common symptom of asthma). This helps the sensor produce large output signals, thus it can be directly integrated with a microprocessor without the need for signal amplification circuits. Matched filtering is used to extract and detect features from the acquired chest sounds for wheeze detection. The sensor successfully detects wheezing from the human chest, even when subjected to background noise and other sounds made to imitate the lungs. The sensor is connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth, enabling signal processing and further integration into digital medical electronic systems based on the Internet of Things (IoT). Bending, cyclic pressure, heat, and sweat tests are performed on the sensor to evaluate its performance under the harsh conditions of real-life scenarios.