Advanced acoustic monitor detects breathing difficulties

The device, which has been developed through the work of Dr Esther Rodriquez Villegas of Imperial College and Prof John Duncan of University College London, is being launched through a new Imperial Innovations venture.

According to Ervitech, the company behind the device, the instrument addresses the limitations of earlier acoustic breathing monitors by removing interference from background noise, speech and internal sounds such as heartbeats.

These advances allow Ervitech’s device to achieve similar accuracy to other techniques that use expensive and bulky monitoring equipment.

Prof Duncan explained the 2cm by 1cm device, which is currently in prototype stage, incorporates a small microphone that detects airflow up and down the trachea of a patient. A microchip processes the acoustic signal and determines whether or not there has been a breath. A small radio transmitter beams the information to a base station that could be on a bedside table.

‘The signal could also be used to alert any number of mobile phones,’ he said.