Respiration rate monitoring methods: A review

Abstract

Respiration rate is an important indicator of a person's health, and thus it is monitored when performing clinical evaluations. There are different approaches for respiration monitoring, but generally they can be classed as contact or noncontact. For contact methods, the sensing device (or part of the instrument containing it) is attached to the subject's body. For noncontact approaches the monitoring is performed by an instrument that does not make any contact with the subject. In this article a review of respiration monitoring approaches (both contact and noncontact) is provided. Concerns related to the patient's recording comfort, recording hygiene, and the accuracy of respiration rate monitoring have resulted in the development of a number of noncontact respiration monitoring approaches. A description of thermal imaging based and vision based noncontact respiration monitoring approaches we are currently developing is provided. Pediatr. Pulmonol. 2011; 46:523–529. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Non-invasive respiration rate monitoring using a single COTS TX-RX pair

“…Respiratory rate is an important vital sign and it can be used to monitor progression of illness but to also predict events that need immediate clinical attention such as cardiac arrest [5]. Traditionally, respiratory rate monitoring relies on technologies built upon a sensor that makes a physical contact with the person's body.…”

RSS-based respiratory rate monitoring using periodic Gaussian processes and Kalman filtering

“…Traditional approaches for measuring the respiratory rate require body contact in which an instrument is attached to the subject's body to measure for example respiratory airflow, chest/abdominal movement, CO 2 concentration, or blood oxygen saturation [2]. Such sensors are unsuitable in home healthcare applications since the person's mobility is restricted, an elderly suffering from dementia may forget to wear a sensor, and infants may remove them.…”

“…This information could be used for: i) increasing our healthawareness; ii) diagnostic purposes by medical professionals; and iii) detecting aberrations that need immediate clinical attention. The respiration rate is one essential indicator of a person's health and hence, monitoring it is important [1], [2].…”

A simple optical fiber interferometer based breathing sensor

“…Based on different working principles, a number of breath sensors have been proposed, such as sensors utilizing humidity or temper ature measurements, capnometer and spirometer to monitor breathing behavior [2]. To date, most of the commercialized breath measurement devices are based on electronic sensors, which can be easily influenced by local electric/magnetic fields due to the presence of metallic parts or electrical con ductive wires.…”