Snorpheus

Project number: 
23078
Sponsor: 
Alpa Merchant, DDS PC
Academic year: 
2022-2023
Snoring is a symptom of Sleep Related Breathing Disorder (SRBD), 57% of men and 40% of women in the US snore. If left untreated it can lead to Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), one in five adults in the US suffer from some form of OSA. Untreated OSA can result in a number of health problems including hypertension, stroke, arrhythmias, cardiomyopathy.

For mild to moderate OSA, use of oral appliances designed by qualified dentists is considered the first line of therapy in management of OSA. Depending on the severity of snoring related to body positions (supine or on the side), positional therapy in combination with an oral appliance can be a useful treatment to help improve quality of life measures.

Ability to identify and document snoring events is challenging for patients, especially for patients with no bed partners. Associating the snoring events with patients body position over the duration of sleep period can provide valuable information for recommending appropriate therapy.

The goal of this project is to build a novel device that can be given to patients for recording multiple nights of data. It should be easy to set up and operate (start, pause, stop) and non intrusive. The device should detect snoring sounds from background noises and patients' body position for the duration of sleep. This device should support privacy by erasing human voices and allowing rapid inspection of recorded data by patients. It should not require an active internet connection for operation. It will upload data to a secure portal on the availability of internet connection. This data will provide valuable information to interpreting sleep physicians as well as qualified dentists who provide non-CPAP treatment to manage snoring and sleep apnea.

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