Morphic Sensors for Respiratory Parameters Estimation: Validation against Overnight Polysomnography

• Published in: Biosensors
• Main Authors: Ganesh R. Naik, Paul P. Breen, Titus Jayarathna, Benjamin K. Tong, Danny J. Eckert, Gaetano D. Gargiulo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2023-07-01
• Subjects: morphic sensor; respiratory rate; heart rate; wearables; polysomnography
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/13/7/703

Effective monitoring of respiratory disturbances during sleep requires a sensor capable of accurately capturing chest movements or airflow displacement. Gold-standard monitoring of sleep and breathing through polysomnography achieves this task through dedicated chest/abdomen bands, thermistors, and nasal flow sensors, and more detailed physiology, evaluations via a nasal mask, pneumotachograph, and airway pressure sensors. However, these measurement approaches can be invasive and time-consuming to perform and analyze. This work compares the performance of a non-invasive wearable stretchable morphic sensor, which does not require direct skin contact, embedded in a t-shirt worn by 32 volunteer participants (26 males, 6 females) with sleep-disordered breathing who performed a detailed, overnight in-laboratory sleep study. Direct comparison of computed respiratory parameters from morphic sensors versus traditional polysomnography had approximately 95% (95 ± 0.7) accuracy. These findings confirm that novel wearable morphic sensors provide a viable alternative to non-invasively and simultaneously capture respiratory rate and chest and abdominal motions.