Design And Fabrication Of Sleep Apnea Device

• Main Author: Tan, Ann Nie
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2018
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/33695/1/Tan%20Ann%20Nie%20-%2024%20pgs.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/33695/4/Tan%20Ann%20Nie.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/33695/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleeping disorder that occurs when the upper respiratory airway is blocked by collapsed soft tissues in the back of throat or tongue as the muscles relax during sleeping. The common symptoms of OSA include repetitive breathing pauses, excessive daytime sleepiness and loud snoring which indicates partial airway obstruction. Existing sleep apnea devices include continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), mandibular advancement device (MAD), tongue retaining device (TRD) and contour pillow. One common disadvantage of these devices is that they are associated with discomfort and side effects such as mouth dryness and blocked up nose, resulting in low compliance of OSA patients with the treatments. The purpose of this research is to create alternative sleep apnea device that can effectively reduce snoring without compromising the comfort of patients. The concept adapted in this research is the headtilt chin-lift maneuver, which is a clinical technique used to open an obstructed airway of unconscious person during emergency situations. The anti-snoring system is designed based on Arduino UNO, whereby the device lifts the patient’s neck to open an obstructed airway after snoring (decibel > 50) is detected by a sound sensor.