The present invention provides, among other things, apparatus and methods of use for treating a subject in need of assistance with breathing. In some embodiments the subject suffers from airflow obstruction. In some embodiments, the subject suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A garment (e.g., a shirt) for monitoring biometric properties of the wearer of the garment is disclosed. The garment may include sensors for monitoring or assessing biometric properties such as, but not limited to, respiration properties, heart properties, and motion properties. These properties may be assessed together to provide an assessment of vital signs and body position (e.g., three-dimensional body position) of the wearer of the garment.

An apparatus for monitoring a sleep parameter of a user includes an adhesive pad configured to conform to a surface of the user and a flexible element coupled to the adhesive pad. The flexible element includes a conductive fabric, and exhibits a modified electrical property in response to an applied force. The apparatus also includes a power source electrically coupled to the flexible element, and an electrical circuit electrically coupled to the power source and the flexible conductive element. The electrical circuit is configured to detect, during use, a change in an electrical property of the flexible element.

An apparatus for monitoring a sleep parameter of a user includes an adhesive pad configured to conform to a surface of the user and a flexible element coupled to the adhesive pad. The flexible element includes a conductive fabric, and exhibits a modified electrical property in response to an applied force. The apparatus also includes a power source electrically coupled to the flexible element, and an electrical circuit electrically coupled to the power source and the flexible conductive element. The electrical circuit is configured to detect, during use, a change in an electrical property of the flexible element.

The present disclosure concerns a plethysmograph. The plethysmograph comprises a housing defining a test cavity configured to enclose a test subject. The plethysmograph further comprises an optical filter providing a spectrally restricted optical access to the test cavity from an exterior of the housing, the optical filter being configured to at least partially transmit light in a transmission band ranging from about 560 nm to about 750 nm; and to at least partially block light in a blocking band ranging from about 380 nm to about 560 nm.

In one implementation, a multi-vital-sign smartphone system detects multiple vital signs from sensors such as a digital infrared sensor, a photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensor and at least one micro dynamic light scattering (mDLS) sensor, and thereafter in some implementations the vital signs are transmitted to, and stored by, an electronic medical record system.

A method, apparatus, and system for measuring respiratory effort of a subject are provided. A thorax effort signal and an abdomen effort signal are obtained. The thorax effort signal and the abdomen effort signal are each divided into a volume-contributing component of the respiratory effort and a paradox component. The paradox component represents a non-volume-contributing component of the respiratory effort. The abdomen paradox component is negatively proportional to the thoracic paradox component. The thorax effort signal or the abdomen effort signal or both are weighted by a weight factor to obtain a volume-proportional signal. The volume-proportional signal is proportional to the actual respiratory volume of the respiratory effort. A calibration factor for calibrating the thorax effort signal and the abdomen effort signal is obtained by optimizing the weight factor by minimizing thoracic paradox component and the abdomen paradox component.

A method and apparatus for the treatment of Sleep Apnea events and Hypopnea episodes wherein one embodiment comprises a wearable, belt like apparatus containing a microphone and a plethysmograph. The microphone and plethysmograph generate signals that are representative of physiological aspects of respiration, and the signals are transferred to an imbedded computer. The embedded computer extracts the sound of breathing and the sound of the heart beat by Digital Signal Processing techniques. The embedded computer has elements for determining when respiration parameters falls out of defined boundaries for said respiration parameters. This exemplary method provides real-time detection of the onset of a Sleep Apnea event or Hypopnea episode and supplies stimulation signals upon the determination of a Sleep Apnea event or Hypopnea episode to initiate an inhalation. In one embodiment, the stimulus is applied to the patient by a cutaneous rumble effects actuator and/or audio effects broadcasting.

The present disclosure relates to the field of medical monitoring, and, in particular, to non-contact detecting and monitoring of patient breathing. Systems, methods, and computer readable media are described for calculating a change in depth of regions in one or more regions of interest (ROI's) on a patient and assigning one or more visual indicators to the regions based on the calculated changes in depth of the regions over time. In some embodiments, one or more breathing parameter signals corresponding to the regions can be generated and/or analyzed. In these and other embodiments, the one or more visual indicators can be displayed overlaid onto the regions in real-time. In these and still other embodiments, the systems, methods, and/or computer readable media (i) can display one or more generated breathing parameter signals in real-time and/or (ii) can trigger an alert and/or an alarm when a breathing abnormality is detected.

A garment (e.g., a shirt) for monitoring biometric properties of the wearer of the garment is disclosed. The garment may include sensors for monitoring or assessing biometric properties such as, but not limited to, respiration properties, heart properties, and motion properties. These properties may be assessed together to provide an assessment of vital signs and body position (e.g., three-dimensional body position) of the wearer of the garment.