Modeling human diaphragmatic electromyogram and airflow responses to imperceptible mechanical loads

We used an esophageal electrode to measure the amplitude and timing responses of diaphragmatic electrical activity and airflow in response to flow resistive and elastic loads at or below the threshold for conscious detection, applied pseudorandomly to the oral airway of eight normal human subjects. The mechanical and neural parameter responses to mechanical loading were cross-correlated with the pseudorandom loading sequence to obtain estimates of the impulse responses. We convolved the resultant impulse response estimates with the loading sequence to obtain the responses predicted from the linear component of the generalized Wiener kernel model. Highly significant correlations and close correspondence were found between the model-predicted and ensemble-averaged experimental responses for nearly all neural and mechanical parameters in all subjects. For nearly every aspect of the pattern, with few exceptions, the response to these small load perturbations in all eight subjects was adequately explained by an impulse response, leaving negligible nonlinearity to require higher-order cross-correlations. These results indicate that the estimated impulse responses accurately model the dynamics of the neural and mechanical responses in human subjects for the types and magnitudes of loads applied. This study supports use of the pseudorandom loading technique to determine the neural and mechanical responses to imperceptible mechanical loads in conscious humans.