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[News] Sleep Apnea Will Soon Have An App To Correctly Diagnose The Condition
#1
Sleep Apnea Will Soon Have An App To Correctly Diagnose The Condition
Seems there's an app for everything now-a-days:


Sleep Apnea Will Soon Have An App To Correctly Diagnose The Condition


Sleep apnea is a very real concern for a lot of people. Though there are a few solutions out there to alleviate the condition, none could be so simple as a smartphone app.

Sufferers of sleep apnea have to often visit a sleep clinic. These visits are certainly not cheap, sometimes to the tune of $1500–$3000 per visit. Though there are in-home tests, they involve having multiple wires strapped to the chest, head and cuffs to get accurate readings. Diagnosing sleep apnea and its severity is certainly very uncomfortable with present–day equipment.

However, the proponents of Appian Medical claim that, rather than spending an uncomfortable night at a sleep clinic, sufferers can very easily self-diagnose via a mobile phone app that records and interprets the unwanted nocturnal condition. Michael Thomas, an American e-health entrepreneur who owns the company, has procured license of SnoreSounds, a mathematical formula that is the key to determine accurately just how acute the sleep apnea is. SnoreSounds was developed by University of Queensland researcher Udantha Abeyratne, reports The Australian.

Thomas is no stranger to apps that offer diagnosis or monitoring capabilities; he already has a hugely popular app for asthma. Called iSonea, the company builds applications that serve as a mobile-based asthma monitoring tools. Quite recently, the company launched AsthmaSense, that helps in raising awareness about the breathing disorder and helps patients manage and monitor the condition. The app is available for iOS as well as Google’s Android devices.

[Image: astmasense-2.jpg]

Speaking of app for sleep apnea, just like AstmaSense, the app ‘listens’ via the phone’s microphone and deciphers the actual conditions. Moreover, such a sensitive algorithm was very hard to come by Thomas said.

[Image: astmasense.jpg]

Sleep apnea is a very commonly occurring condition in America. It’s a chronic condition that affects roughly18 million people. The most common symptom is heavy snoring that affects the partner more than the snorer. Interestingly, many aren’t even aware that they suffer from sleep apnea. However, prolonged neglect to sleep apnea can cause heart disease and increased risks of accidents and death. From a commercial perspective it is a $7 Billion market.

Quite recently, FDA even approved an implant that actively monitors and offers timely stimulus to keep the air passageway from getting blocked.

Using a smartphone to diagnose sleep apnea doesn’t seem far–fetched, provided the device has a very sensitive microphone, which most modern devices have.

Fair Use from:
http://www.inquisitr.com/1241286/sleep-a...condition/
The above post may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material available is intended to advance the understanding of Sleep Apnea treatment and to advance the educational level of Sleep Apnea patients with regard to their health. Sometimes included is the full text of articles and documents rather than a simple link because outside links frequently "go bad" or change over time. This constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material in this post is distributed without fee or payment of any kind for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this post for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
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#2
RE: Sleep Apnea Will Soon Have An App To Correctly Diagnose The Condition
I doubt this will be accurate, firstly because the mic on an iPhone simply isn't that good, and secondly, snore sounds alone cannot determine the nature of a potential apnoea to any real degree, despite what they claim, but as a first line hint that one might need to go and get checked, if you live alone, it might be something. If you live with someone, they will tell you that you snore and you sound odd. One doc at the local sleep clinic told me 80% of their patients first came to them because their spouse told them "fix it or I get another room!" - in short, if you live with someone, Apple can go take a flying leap.....
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#3
RE: Sleep Apnea Will Soon Have An App To Correctly Diagnose The Condition
We are slowing approaching the medical tri-corder of Star Trek!
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#4
RE: Sleep Apnea Will Soon Have An App To Correctly Diagnose The Condition
Hey Doc,

Tell us how you really feel!!! Too-funny

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#5
RE: Sleep Apnea Will Soon Have An App To Correctly Diagnose The Condition
Intriguing idea. You might be able to gather a lot of useful information with a microphone and appropriate analysis. I could tell my dad had apnea just listening to him snore, stop breathing, and then explosively catch his breath, groan, etc. An experienced person could probably tell a whole lot just by listening. Just listening to someone, I can hear snoring, and even gauge breathing to some degree.

If a device could listen and guage when and whether you're breathing or snoring, it could conceivably tell a lot.

However, I'm highly skeptical a machine will be able to be that discriminating just from sound, especially if you're not in a quiet environment. It might be some sort of warning device that tells you you probably have apnea. It might even tell you it's severe. I'd have a hard time believing it's good at telling you that you don't have apnea, or how severe it is.

I think there's NO WAY this gadget does "Correctly Diagnose The Condition" in any meaningful sense other than saying "you need to get a real sleep test because I can hear you snoring."

There might be a way to gather some data with a microphone at some time in the future. It's probably worth some investigation even if this idea doesn't pan out.
Get the free OSCAR CPAP software here.
Useful links.
Click here for information on the main alternative to CPAP.
If it's midnight and a DME tells you it's dark outside, go and check it yourself.
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#6
RE: Sleep Apnea Will Soon Have An App To Correctly Diagnose The Condition
See, Archangle? If you live with someone, who needs the app? Smile. Mostly this is a decent early warning system if you live alone and feel rotten all day, or if you just aren't willing to believe your room-mate (or whatever) that you snore and/or sound weird at night. So, if it overcomes that resistance to go get tested, well, fine, but I for one won't accept that it can do more than make a good guess, unless I can start seeing side by side comparisons of someone with the app and a full home kit running at the same time and see the same numbers from both. Since it is relying on sound alone, it can't measure air flow, heart rate, EKG, sO2saturation, or chest expansion or any of the other factors we use to diagnose, so again, it is about as useful as a finger recording pulse-ox to make a first guess that one should go get tested. But in the end, you still need to get tested. If it is cheaper than buying a recording pulse-ox, and you sort of suspect something is up, then go ahead. Otherwise, just save the dosh and go get tested.
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#7
RE: Sleep Apnea Will Soon Have An App To Correctly Diagnose The Condition
(05-15-2014, 10:00 AM)DocWils Wrote: See, Archangle? If you live with someone, who needs the app? Smile. Mostly this is a decent early warning system if you live alone and feel rotten all day, or if you just aren't willing to believe your room-mate (or whatever) that you snore and/or sound weird at night. So, if it overcomes that resistance to go get tested, well, fine, but I for one won't accept that it can do more than make a good guess, unless I can start seeing side by side comparisons of someone with the app and a full home kit running at the same time and see the same numbers from both. Since it is relying on sound alone, it can't measure air flow, heart rate, EKG, sO2saturation, or chest expansion or any of the other factors we use to diagnose, so again, it is about as useful as a finger recording pulse-ox to make a first guess that one should go get tested. But in the end, you still need to get tested. If it is cheaper than buying a recording pulse-ox, and you sort of suspect something is up, then go ahead. Otherwise, just save the dosh and go get tested.

I think you're missing my point. I think the idea of collecting data from listening to breathing is something that may be practical at some point. We shouldn't dismiss the idea, even if this device turns out not to work well, or even if it turns out to be completely useless.

Sound monitoring might even be useful for someone who IS on CPAP. Some modern machines already detect snoring from something a little like sound. You might even be able to tell something about flow limitations or clear airways. ResMed's FOT is sort of a sound sensing system.

The current in lab sleep test paradigm leaves a lot of people out in the cold because they don't go in to get a test, or because they don't sleep during their one night in an inconvenient lab, at the wrong bed time, wired up, etc. Or they don't sleep well, don't get REM sleep, etc. during their test.

Or the patients who won't go in for an invasive, expensive, inconvenient, in-lab PSG.

There are already lots of pig headed doctors who ignore the very useful data collected nightly by data capable CPAP machines because they are stuck in the "in lab sleep test" mindset. It's important to put an end to this kind of bias. Just because a full in-lab PSG is the "best" data, doesn't justify ignoring the other valuable data that doesn't come from the PSG.

You can do amazing things with sound or other technology. Sonograms are now a mainstream diagnostic tools. They find oil and figure out geological information with the use of sound analysis. AI is getting good enough that Google has prototype self driving cars. If you think about it, it's very possible that this kind of tool could provide a lot of good information, just like a data capable CPAP machine can.

I am skeptical that this particular gadget is going to be all the hype says it is. There are definitely risks to trying it out and deciding that you don't have apnea. However, the concept is "sound" Grin to some extent.

You're also missing the point on "living with someone." My idea is that someone who understands apnea could probably tell a lot just by listening to the patient. A "randomly chosen" spouse or family member probably won't understand enough about breathing to know what's right and wrong. Heck, I listened to my dad snore and stop breathing for 40 years or so and never thought about him needing CPAP until years after I started myself.

The idea of an "apnea listening device" would have to include some sort of Artificial Intelligence to know what is and isn't normal about breathing. Most people wouldn't have a clue from just listening.

It might be a good idea to start using sleep partners more often, though. Maybe with some informative videos or other instruction, a lot of people's spouses could learn to listen to their partner's breathing and figure out that they have an apnea problem.

Of course, you've also got to get the apnea victim to listen. One guy I traveled with just ignored me when I told him he needed a sleep test. Lots of people here say their spouses had been nagging them for a long time about stopping breathing, but they never listened. Luckily, a fair number of people here report they finally went in for a sleep test because of a spouse nagging.

Then you've got to get the spouse to actually learn something, and do the critical evaluation.
Get the free OSCAR CPAP software here.
Useful links.
Click here for information on the main alternative to CPAP.
If it's midnight and a DME tells you it's dark outside, go and check it yourself.
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#8
RE: Sleep Apnea Will Soon Have An App To Correctly Diagnose The Condition
I already have an "app" for that. Her name is Patricia.
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#9
RE: Sleep Apnea Will Soon Have An App To Correctly Diagnose The Condition
(05-16-2014, 06:39 AM)JimZZZ Wrote: I already have an "app" for that. Her name is Patricia.

Yes, but can she auto-update herself to the new improved version over a WiFi connection? Eat-popcorn
SuperSleeper
Apnea Board Administrator
www.ApneaBoard.com


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#10
RE: Sleep Apnea Will Soon Have An App To Correctly Diagnose The Condition
Then she'd be Cherry 2000! Oh-jeez
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