Real-time prediction of upcoming respiratory events via machine learning using snoring sound signal

The aim of the study was to inspect the acoustic properties and sleep characteristics of a preapneic snoring sound. The feasibility of forecasting upcoming respiratory events by snoring sound was also investigated.

Participants with habitual snoring or a heavy breathing sound during sleep were recruited consecutively. Polysomnography was conducted, and snoring-related breathing sound was recorded simultaneously. Acoustic features and sleep features were extracted from 30-second samples, and a machine learning algorithm was used to establish 2 prediction models.

A total of 74 eligible participants were included. Model 1, tested by 5-fold cross-validation, achieved an accuracy of 0.92 and an area under the curve of 0.94 for respiratory event prediction. Model 2, with acoustic features and sleep information tested by Leave-One-Out cross-validation, had an accuracy of 0.78 and an area under the curve of 0.80. Sleep position was found to be the most important among all sleep features contributing to the performance of the 2 models.

Preapneic sound presented unique acoustic characteristics, and snoring-related breathing sound could be deployed as a real-time apneic event predictor. The models, combined with sleep information, serve as a promising tool for an early warning system to forecast apneic events.

Wang B, Yi X, Gao J, et al. Real-time prediction of upcoming respiratory events via machine learning using snoring sound signal. J Clin Sleep Med. 2021;17(9):1777-1784.