Construction of a three-dimensional snoring generation model for sleep apnea prediction and acoustic analysis

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K12227
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 62010:Life, health and medical informatics-related
• Research Institution: Tomakomai National College of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Mikami Tsuyoshi 苫小牧工業高等専門学校, 創造工学科, 教授 (40321369)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 高橋 弘毅 東京都市大学, その他部局等, 教授 (40419693) ; 中村 嘉彦 苫小牧工業高等専門学校, 創造工学科, 准教授 (60402476)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 睡眠時無呼吸症候群 / いびき / 3Dプリンタ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we focus on "snoring", which is a typical symptom of sleep apnea syndrome (SAS), and aim to construct an engineering method to predict apnea precursors from the acoustic characteristics of snoring. Therefore, we constructed a three-dimensional model of the upper airway using a three-dimensional printer, and performed experiments to generate snoring and apnea (obstruction of the airway) on the three-dimensional model in an environment simulating various physiological conditions to show signs of apnea. We will clarify the relationship between the narrowing and obstruction of the upper airway and the acoustic characteristics of snoring.
As a research result, we were able to reproduce the phenomenon that causes SAS by experiments using a three-dimensional model, but we could not generate the snoring sound associated with the phenomenon.

Free Research Field

生体信号解析

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

睡眠時無呼吸症候群(SAS)は自覚することが難しいため， 早期発見に繋がる技術開発が緊急の課題と言える．SASの患者によく見られる症状として「いびき」があり，いびき音にSAS固有の特徴が内在している可能性がこれまで指摘されてきた．もしこの特徴が明らかになれば，SASの早期発見のための新たな技術開発に繋がる．

本研究は上気道の立体モデルに基づき，SASおよびいびきの発声を模擬的に実現することで，いびき発生の機序とSASとの関連性について明らかにし，SASの前兆予測を可能とすることを目的としている．これにより，SASの早期発見に繋がると考えられる．