How to measure snoring? A comparison of the microphone, cannula and piezoelectric sensor.
The objective of this study was to compare to each other the methods currently recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) to measure snoring: an acoustic sensor, a piezoelectric sensor and a nasal pressure transducer (cannula). Ten subjects reporting habitual snoring were included in the study, performed at Landspitali-University Hospital, Iceland. Snoring was assessed by listening to the air medium microphone located on a patient's chest, compared to listening to two overhead air medium microphones (stereo) and manual scoring of a piezoelectric sensor and nasal cannula vibrations. The chest audio picked up the highest number of snore events of the different snore sensors. The sensitivity and positive predictive value of scoring snore events from the different sensors was compared to the chest audio: overhead audio (0.78, 0.98), cannula (0.55, 0.67) and piezoelectric sensor (0.78, 0.92), respectively. The chest audio was capable of detecting snore events with lower volume and higher fundamental frequency than the other sensors. The 200 Hz sampling rate of the cannula and piezoelectric sensor was one of their limitations for detecting snore events. The different snore sensors do not measure snore events in the same manner. This lack of consistency will affect future research on the clinical significance of snoring. Standardization of objective snore measurements is therefore needed. Based on this paper, snore measurements should be audio-based and the use of the cannula as a snore sensor be discontinued, but the piezoelectric sensor could possibly be modified for improvement.
['Arnardottir|Erna S|ES|', 'Isleifsson|Bardur|B|', 'Agustsson|Jon S|JS|', 'Sigurdsson|Gunnar A|GA|', 'Sigurgunnarsdottir|Magdalena O|MO|', 'Sigurđarson|Gudjon T|GT|', 'Saevarsson|Gudmundur|G|', 'Sveinbjarnarson|Atli T|AT|', 'Hoskuldsson|Sveinbjorn|S|', 'Gislason|Thorarinn|T|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D000072601:Cannula D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007055:Iceland D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D009666:Nose D017286:Polysomnography D012890:Sleep D056508:Sleep Medicine Specialty D012913:Snoring D013016:Sound D014732:Vibration
snoring microphone cannula acoustic analysis seep sleep-disordered breathing