Monitoring of Breathing Effort and Oxygen Levels for Identification of Sleep Apnea

Sleep restores human body’s energy and well-being. Sleep apnea is a very concerning disorder which occurs when a person's breathing is interrupted during sleep. Or, if a person could not breathe properly during their sleeping period. This heavily affects the amount of oxygen being received by the brain and body during sleep. Sleep problems are diagnosed in the laboratory with the monitoring wires contribute to the uncomfortable, if not deprivation of, sleep. There is a need for a portable sleep apnea diagnosing device since there are limited sleep laboratory in hospitals for diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea. This study delves into developing a portable device to monitor sleep using only two sensors namely flex sensor and the nasal sensor and compared to Polysomnogram (PSG) multiple wired equipment used in sleep laboratory. The portable wireless device consists of the Raspberry Pi 3B+, Flex Sensor, Thermistor and Nasal Pressure Transducer to monitor respiratory effort and nasal airflow respectively. The experiment yields to no significant difference between the data obtained from the standard clinical device and the developed device. It also shows a strong Pearson’s correlation R of 0.89.