US 6,241,683 B1 · Phonospirometry for non-invasive monitoring of respiration

Abstract

To compensate for the poor signal-to-noise ratio when transforming a patient tracheal sound signal into a respiration flow signal, the transformed signal is used when the sound signal is above a threshold, and interpolated values are used when the sound signal is below the threshold. A volume of breath signal is reliably obtained. Respiration start/stop is detected either by analyzing the sound signal or by physical measurement of the patient. A wearable device incorporating the sound signal processing method can provide an immediate indication or alarm when the volume of breath signal indicates a condition requiring medical attention.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for obtaining a volume of respiration signal from a sound signal representing respiration, the method comprising:

detecting respiration start/stop;
comparing an intensity of said sound signal to a threshold to determine whether said sound signal intensity is sufficiently strong with respect to background noise so as to provide a reliable measure of tracheal flow;
transforming said sound signal to a flow signal;
interpolating values for said flow signal when said sound signal intensity is below said threshold;
and
integrating said flow signal and said interpolated values of said flow signal over at least one of an inspiration cycle and an expiration cycle to obtain a volume of breath signal for said at least one cycle.

3 more elements

A method for obtaining at least one of a diagnosis and a prognosis of a respiratory disease comprising the steps of:

placing at least one microphone on a patient to obtain a sound signal from respiration of said patient;
processing said sound signal to obtain a volume of respiration signal;
monitoring said volume of respiration signal over time;
analyzing said volume signal over time to obtain at least one parameter indicative of said diagnosis and/or prognosis.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Phonospirometry for non-invasive monitoring of respiration

Life of this patent

Phonospirometry for non-invasive monitoring of respiration

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20