Clinical Significance of Cough Peak Flow and Its Non-Contact Measurement via Cough Sounds: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Coughing is the primary defence mechanism against foreign bodies in the central airways and can quantitatively be assessed by cough peak flow (CPF). We conducted a narrative review of the literature on CPF, which is most commonly used for evaluating cough strength. This review regards the method for measurement of CPF, the cough-related factors influencing CPF, the clinical significance of CPF evaluation, and a novel cough strength prediction method using cough sounds. Furthermore, this review presents various cutoff thresholds that predict extubation failure in patients on mechanical ventilation, acute respiratory failure, and aspiration risk. The published clinical evidence of CPF demonstrates reasonable diagnostic accuracy, predictive power, and validity, although additional studies on the non-contact measurement of CPF via cough sounds with better-quality methodologies are required.

Assessment of cough in head and neck cancer patients at risk for dysphagia—An overview

“…Further analysis is needed to improve the accuracy and the reliability of cough peak flow measurements based on cough sounds. 111 To our knowledge, acoustic cough-related features in HNCpatients with RAD have not been explored yet. As mentioned previously, inadequate coughing is a clinical cause of aspiration in HNCpatients with RAD 8,87 that needs close monitoring by dysphagia experts.…”

“…However, this topic is under‐researched and no conclusive results have been reported neither in patients with RAD nor in dysphagia in general. 64 , 111 , 112 , 113 Mills et al have investigated three measurements of the strength of voluntary and suppressed reflexive coughs in healthy individuals. 64 The measurements included airflow rate, acoustic signal, and air pressure.…”

Smart homes that detect sneeze, cough, and face touching

“…Coughing Anatomy and Motions Events : The anatomy of coughing show in Fig. 2 is composed of three phases Umayahara et al. (2020) : inspiration, compression, and expiration.…”

“…In the second phase of compression , the glottis temporarily closes, muscles compress the air in the lungs, and the head is assumed to start to move forward. The compression phase lasts approximately 0.2 s Umayahara et al. (2020) .…”

Non-Contact Measurements of Electrocardiogram and Cough-Associated Electromyogram from the Neck Using In-Pillow Common Cloth Electrodes: A Proof-of-Concept Study

“…In addition, some methods have been developed for cough detection. Previously reported methods include the use of microphones [ 20 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ], video recordings [ 37 ], electromyography (EMG) [ 38 , 39 ], and accelerometers [ 40 ]. In routine cough measurements over a prolonged time period, however, audio sensing using a microphone or video recording may undermine the patient’s privacy [ 40 , 41 ].…”