Temperature Profile of Nasal Breathing for Respiration Monitoring in Ambulatory Settings

Abstract

The nasal breathing parameters have shown promising applications in hyperventilation, Kussmaul breathing, sleep apnea, shortness of breath in COVID-19, bradypnea, sinus arrhythmia, and breathing pranayama. However, a wearable setup, which is affordable, aesthetic, and accurate in real-time during various physical activities, is not available currently. The present work develops a novel, low-cost and wearable instrumented Nasal Temperature Sensing (NTS) device for measuring various breathing parameters. The proposed device was tested during controlled breathing exercises in seated position at three ambient temperature settings (18°C, 28°C, and 38°C). The device was further tested for standing and walking at various speeds including slow (1.5 Km/hr), medium (3.5 Km/hr), and fast (5.5 Km/hr). The NTS device is compared against a commercially available respiration belt (gold standard). The mean absolute error (averaged across subjects and ambient temperature settings) was 0.09±0.05 breaths per minute (bpm), 0.17±0.10 bpm, and 0.13±0.13 bpm for controlled breathing at 6 bpm, 12 bpm, and 18 bpm, respectively. The Root-mean-square error between the NTS device and respiration belt across the subjects at the normal standing-position was 1.13±0.39 bpm. The results suggest that the proposed NTS device is accurate for real-time applications with the potential advantage of being robust enough to motion artifacts.

Effect of ambient temperature and respiration rate on nasal dominance: preliminary findings from a nostril-specific wearable

“…Specifically, two representations of ND, namely NDI and NLR were recorded at three different ambient temperatures (18 • C, 28 • C, and 38 • C) and three different respiration rates (6, 12, and 18 breaths per minute). The T PP oscillation was recorded from both nostrils via a wearable device developed in our previous work [28].…”

“…The NTS device and its data acquisition module, which consists of arduino, a Bluetooth module, a 9 V battery, and an equivalent circuit board were well-validated with the respiration belt system in the previous study. The developed wearable NTS device [28] during the experiment is shown in figure 1. The developed NTS device continuously records and transmits the temperature variation during the inhalation and exhalation of nasal breathing wirelessly to the computer system at a sampling frequency of 225 Hz.…”

“…A representative signal waveform from the NTS device for both nostrils at three different ambient temperatures of 18 • C, 28 • C, and 38 • C is shown in figure 3. During inspiration, at the ambient temperature of 18 • C, and 28 • C, the NTS device [28] measured outside air's temperature that was cooler than body temperature (37 • C) [32][33][34][35][36]. In contrast, during expiration at the ambient temperature of 18 • C and 28 • C, the NTS device measures exhaling air's temperature from the lungs.…”

“…The most common techniques for measuring the ND are CT scan [24], acoustic rhinometry [25], rhinomanometry [26], peak nasal inspiratory flow [27], and peak nasal expiratory flow [26]. In previous studies, our group has developed a wearable nasal temperature sensing (NTS) device to measure nasal breathing parameters [28]. The wearable NTS device was used to measure the ND and was observed to be superior compared to the respiration belt device while recording the respiration rates in ambulatory settings [28].…”

“…In previous studies, our group has developed a wearable nasal temperature sensing (NTS) device to measure nasal breathing parameters [28]. The wearable NTS device was used to measure the ND and was observed to be superior compared to the respiration belt device while recording the respiration rates in ambulatory settings [28]. In addition, the NTS was cost-effective, facilitated continuous measurement for long duration, was wearable, and was easy to operate in comparison to the previous techniques to measure the ND.…”