Automatic vibrotactile device for apnea interruption.

摘要

Apnea is a medical condition that causes pauses in breathing that last for 20 seconds or longer. Tactile stimulation is one of the methods to interrupt extended episodes of apnea in premature infants. In this work, an automatic vibrotactile system that constantly monitors physiological signals associated with apnea, namely heart rate and blood oxygen level was designed. The system also provides tactile stimulation by means of a small flat DC motor. The vibrotactile unit is attached to the foot of the infant using a soft wrap. The overall system consists of a patient monitoring device, a Device/User Control Interface, and the vibrotactile unit. The system provides multi-mode haptic feedback to provide an individualized treatment by allowing the nursing staff to adjust the magnitude and duration of the tactile stimulation from the user interface. Compact and clutter-free design of the overall system makes it suitable for use in the environment of a neonatal intensive-care unit. Based on preliminary evaluation, the system displays expected response according to the various input parameters.