Evaluation of the different sleep-disordered breathing patterns of the compressed tracheal sound.

Objective: Suitability of the compressed tracheal sound signal for screening different sleep-disordered breathing patterns was evaluated. The previous results suggest that the plain pattern in the compressed sound signal represents mostly normal, unobstructed breathing, the thick pattern consists of periodic apneas/hypopneas and during the thin pattern, flow limitation in the nasal cannula signal is abundant.

Methods: Twenty-seven patients underwent a polysomnography with a tracheal sound and oesophageal pressure monitoring.