Breathing disorder identification, characterization and diagnosis methods, devices and systems
AssigneeUniversity Health Network
InventorsHisham Alshaer, Geoffrey Roy Fernie, T. Douglas Bradley, Ahmad Ziad Akl
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are breathing disorder identification, characterization and diagnosis methods, devices and systems. In general the disclosed methods, devices and systems may rely on the characterization of breath sound amplitudes, periodic breath sounds and/or aperiodic breath sounds to characterize a breathing disorder as obstructive (e.g. obstructive sleep apnea—OSA) or non-obstructive (e.g. central sleep apnea—CSA).
Claims14
A computed-implemented method, automatically implemented by one or more processors of a computing device, for automatically characterizing recorded breath sounds as indicative of one of obstructive and central sleep apnea, the method comprising:
- identifying by the at least one process a segment of the recorded breath sounds encompassing at least one of an apnea and a hypopnea, said segment comprising a falling edge and a rising edge separated by a low-amplitude segment associated with said apnea or hypopnea;
- automatically evaluating by the at least one processor a breath sound amplitude profile pattern of said identified segment, wherein said pattern is at least partially defined by said falling edge and said rising edge, against one or more preset sound amplitude profile pattern criteria set to distinguish between segments indicative of obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea;
- wherein said evaluating comprises evaluating a similarity between said rising edge and said falling edge of said identified segment, and
- wherein said one or more criteria comprise a similarity threshold set to distinguish obstructive from central apnea events;
- classifying by the at least one processor said identified segment as being indicative of one of obstructive and central sleep apnea based on a result of said evaluating step;
- and
- outputting an indication as to one of obstructive and central sleep apnea based on said classifying.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising statements and instructions stored thereon for implementation by one or more processors of a computing system to automatically characterize recorded breath sounds as indicative of one of obstructive and central sleep apnea, that cause the computing system to perform the following operations:
- identify a segment of the recorded breath sounds encompassing at least one of an apnea and a hypopnea, said segment comprising a falling edge and a rising edge separated by a low-amplitude segment associated with said apnea or hypopnea;
- automatically evaluate a breath sound amplitude profile pattern of said identified segment, wherein said pattern is at least partially defined by said falling edge and said rising edge, against one or more preset sound amplitude profile pattern criteria set to distinguish between segments indicative of obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea;
- wherein said evaluating comprises evaluating a similarity between said rising edge and said falling edge of said identified segment, and wherein said one or more criteria comprise a similarity threshold set to distinguish obstructive from central apnea events;
- classify said identified segment as being indicative of one of obstructive and central sleep apnea based on a result of said evaluating step;
- and
- output an indication as to one of obstructive and central sleep apnea based on said classified segment.
A system for automatically characterizing recorded breath sounds as indicative of one of obstructive and central sleep apnea, the system comprising:
- one or more processors;
- memory storing instructions, the instructions comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the processors to:
- identify a segment of the recorded breath sounds encompassing at least one of an apnea and a hypopnea;
- automatically evaluate a breath sound amplitude profile pattern of said identified segment, wherein said pattern is at least partially defined by said falling edge and said rising edge, against one or more preset sound amplitude profile pattern criteria set to distinguish between segments indicative of obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea;
- wherein said evaluating comprises evaluating a similarity between said rising edge and said falling edge of said identified segment, and wherein said one or more criteria comprise a similarity threshold set to distinguish obstructive from central apnea events;
- classify said identified segment as being indicative of one of obstructive and central sleep apnea based on a result of said evaluating step;
- and
- output an indication as to one of obstructive and central sleep apnea based on said classified segment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.