source : Ibnlive
A new technology that could help your smartphone track sleep disorders
New York: Researchers are working on a smartphone-based
technology which can help track sleep disorders, like sleep apnea, much
easier than visiting a doctor.
Using earbuds, equipped with an in-line microphone and an Apple
iPhone, researchers from Florida State University and New Jersey-based
Stevens Institute of Technology analysed participants' breathing habits
during a six-month study.
When compared to a chest-worn respiration monitor, the
smartphone-based device monitored participants' breathing to within half
a breath per minute, the MIT Technology Review, a magazine published by
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reported.
Researchers
are working on a smartphone-based technology which can help track sleep
disorders, like sleep apnea, much easier than visiting a doctor. (File sharing, via Shutterstock)
The team tested the sensitivity of the microphone on the earbuds for
recording breathing rate and also modified the earbuds to act as
additional microphones.
While the breathing rate was measured most accurately when the
earphone was worn or kept next to a participant's pillow and multiple
microphones were used, the study also showed it worked well with just
the unmodified earphones on a bedside table.
According to Yingying Chen, an associate professor at Stevens
Institute of Technology, the team plans to release a smartphone app to
study sleep disorders next year.
"Using the app would be an accurate and significantly cheaper
method to track quality of sleep and could help identify sleep apnea and
other potential health problems," the study's authors noted.
A paper on the technology is scheduled to be presented at the IEEE Infocom conference in April, 2015.
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