Techniques for prediction and monitoring of coughing-manifested clinical episodes
View Patent ↗A method is provided for predicting an onset of a clinical episode, the method including sensing breathing of a subject, determining at least one breathing pattern of the subject responsively to the sensed breathing, comparing the breathing pattern with a baseline breathing pattern, and predicting the onset of the episode at least in part responsively to the comparison. Other embodiments are also described.
1. Apparatus comprising:
a sensor configured to sense a breathing-related sound of a subject selected from the group consisting of: coughing of a subject and wheezing of the subject, and to generate a signal responsively to the selected breathing-related sound;
a breathing sensor configured to sense breathing of the subject and generate a breathing signal responsively thereto; and
a control unit configured to:
receive the signal generated responsively to the selected breathing-related sound;
receive the breathing signal;
in response to the received signals, determine a correlation between timing of a breathing cycle of the subject and timing of the breathing-related sound; and
in response thereto, monitor a condition of the subject selected from the group consisting of: asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure (CHF), cystic fibrosis (CF), and epilepsy.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to assess a progression of an episode of the condition.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor configured to sense the selected breathing-related sound is selected from the group consisting of: an acoustic sensor configured to sense the selected breathing-related sound and a mechanical vibration sensor configured to sense mechanical vibrations caused by the selected breathing-related sound.
4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor configured to sense the selected breathing-related sound is configured to sense the selected breathing-related sound without contacting the subject or clothes the subject is wearing.
5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor configured to sense the selected breathing-related sound is configured to sense the selected breathing-related sound without requiring subject compliance during the sensing.
6. A method comprising:
sensing a breathing-related sound of a subject selected from the group consisting of: coughing of a subject and wheezing of the subject;
sensing breathing of the subject with a sensor;
determining a correlation between timing of a breathing cycle of the subject and timing of the breathing-related sound; and
in response thereto, monitoring a condition of the subject selected from the group consisting of: asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure (CHF), cystic fibrosis (CF), and epilepsy,
the method being performed using apparatus including:
a sensor configured to sense the selected breathing-related sound and to generate a signal responsively to the selected breathing-related sound;
a breathing sensor configured to sense breathing of the subject and generate a breathing signal responsively thereto; and
a control unit configured to:
receive the signal generated responsively to the selected breathing-related sound;
receive the breathing signal;
in response to the received signals, determine the correlation between timing of the breathing cycle of the subject and timing of the breathing-related sound;
and
in response thereto, monitor the selected condition of the subject.
7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein monitoring the condition comprises assessing a progression of an episode of the condition.
8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein sensing the breathing-related sound comprises sensing at least one type of mechanical vibration selected from the group consisting of: the breathing-related sound, and mechanical vibrations caused by the breathing-related sound.
9. The method according to claim 6 , wherein sensing the breathing-related sound comprises sensing the breathing-related sound without contacting the subject or clothes the subject is wearing.
10. The method according to claim 6 , wherein sensing the breathing-related sound comprises sensing the breathing-related sound without requiring subject compliance during sensing.
11. The method according to claim 6 , wherein sensing the breathing-related sound comprises sensing the breathing-related sound while the subject is sleeping.
12. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine the correlation between timing of the breathing cycle of the subject and timing of the breathing-related sound, by filtering the breathing-related sound according to a periodicity of the breathing cycle.
13. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to determine the correlation between timing of the breathing cycle of the subject and timing of the breathing-related sound, by determining a correlation between inspirium and expirium of the subject, and the timing of the breathing-related sound.
14. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the breathing-related sound includes coughing, and wherein the sensor is configured to sense the breathing-related sound by sensing the coughing.
15. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the breathing-related sound includes wheezing, and wherein the sensor is configured to sense the breathing-related sound by sensing the wheezing.