Obstructive sleep Apnea detection and alerting system using Piezoelectric sensor array embedded Quilt

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a prevalent and serious sleep disorder. OSA causes involuntary cessation of breathing for brief periods of time during sleep. Usually a person may not be aware of breath interruption during sleep which may lead to nocturnal death. We proposed a novel body movement sensing method for detecting apneic episodes. Body movement signals were acquired using piezoelectric sensor array embedded inside a quilt. Acquired signals were digitally processed and peak response of the sensor during loading and unloading phase was analyzed. Alerting system will be activated whenever the movement signal time duration exceeds the threshold (t > 10 s). Also vibration stimulation is applied to the user whenever the breathing pause exceeds preset threshold (t > 20 s) using a vibration motor disc placed inside the quilt. This method was evaluated with 10 subjects in a normal sleep environment. Experimental results revealed that the proposed method efficiently detects and alerts the user within 10 seconds of breathing cessation. The proposed method can also assist in early detection of OSA in asymptomatic individuals.