Nonintrusive Remote Monitoring of Sleep in Home-Based Situation

Abstract

Sleep deprivation can lead to loss of concentration, and risky decision-making. Nevertheless, some people may underestimate the importance of getting quality sleep. The standard health care systems might not be suitable for long-term monitoring of sleep. As an example, the polysomnography, i.e., the gold standard for assessing sleep disorders is cumbersome, expensive, and time-consuming. As a result, portable, nonintrusive and inexpensive systems for monitoring quality of sleep are greatly needed. This paper demonstrates a novel nonintrusive system for monitoring quality of sleep using an optical fiber embedded sensor mat. The proposed system is deployed in real-life conditions over a one-month period. Three senior female residents were enrolled for the study, where the sensor mat is placed under the bed mattress. Sleep quality is assessed based on several parameters, such as duration of sleep, sleep interruption, vital signs (heart rate and respiration). The proposed system shows an agreement with a user's survey collected before the study. Furthermore, the system is integrated within an existing ambient assisted living platform with a user-friendly interface to make it more convenient for the caregivers to follow-up the sleep parameters of the residents.

Keywords: Aging in place; Ballistocardiography; Technology and services for home care; Vital signs; e-Health.