Inconspicuous on-bed respiratory rate monitoring

The monitoring of human respiratory rate is essential in many clinical applications including the detection and monitoring of sleep disorders, the monitoring of newborns for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and identifying patients at high risk up to 24 hours before an adverse event like stroke and cardiac arrest [1]. Traditional noninvasive respiratory rate measurements in a hospital setting rely on clinical staff to visually track a patient's chest movement for a period of time to derive the respiratory rate from the number of movements observed. Failure to perform continuous and quantified measurements of respiratory rate could result in an inability to rescue a patient exhibiting respiratory distress. Severe after effects hinder recovery and result in loss of time, cost, or even life. This paper proposes an e-textile pressure sensitive bed sheet to non-invasively and accurately measure respiratory rate by analyzing time-stamped pressure distribution sequences. The bed sheet provides a 24/7 quantified on-bed respiratory rate monitoring service. It is made of e-textile and is similar to a regular bed sheet in comfort. As a result, it can seamlessly fit in common clinical or home environments, reducing the possible interference with a patient's regular sleeping habits and resulting in a type of inconspicuous monitoring.