Adequate and restorative sleep is essential for maintaining physiological health, cognitive function and overall well-being. However, sleep disorders - particularly obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) - can significantly impair sleep quality and contribute to the development of other complications. Despite its high prevalence, OSA often remains undiagnosed, largely due to the limited accessibility and convenience of current diagnostic procedures. To address this challenge, the present study with 20 participants focuses on the development and preliminary evaluation of a patient-centred system designed for automated detection of sleep apnoea and long-term monitoring of therapeutic interventions. The system integrates electrical impedance pneumography and photoplethysmography to record key physiological parameters including respiratory effort, heart rate and peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO₂). System modules were implemented for signal processing, data analysis and wireless transmission. An initial evaluation of the prototype was conducted to assess signal quality. While the results indicate several areas for optimisation - particularly in terms of hardware stability and reliability of data transmission - the overall concept shows considerable potential for future application in clinical and home environments.

Driving safety is an important matter that, if violated, can have serious consequences such as injury or even death. Several studies have shown that fatigue, and the drowsiness that often results from it, has a significant impact on road safety. It is therefore essential to detect the symptoms of fatigue at an early stage so that appropriate countermeasures can be taken before a dangerous situation arises. Various systems can be used to detect fatigue, including those that monitor physiological signals and look for specific patterns to detect changes and trigger appropriate action if necessary. Mobile systems, which offer greater flexibility, are the focus of some of these efforts. In order to facilitate a methodological approach in the development of new systems, it is imperative to obtain a systematic overview within the initial phase. This enables the identification of both established and promising approaches, as well as the identification of actual gaps that necessitate further research. The aim of this article is to set out a protocol for the conduct of a systematic review in order to be able to subsequently carry it out. This includes researching and defining features such as eligibility criteria, selecting appropriate databases, search strategies and, most importantly, defining the specific research question. The result of this work is a clear and methodologically prepared summary of the most important points to be considered when conducting the systematic review on the subject of ”Mobile Physiological Monitoring Systems for Driver Fatigue Detection”.

The mental health of children and adolescents is susceptible to being adversely influenced by external stressors and events. A particularly notable example is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has profoundly disrupted the lives of billions of children and families and has been associated with an escalation in mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and stress-related difficulties. As cited by the World Health Organization, there has been a documented 25% increase in the incidence of anxiety and depression. Before the pandemic, German data indicated a considerable prevalence of anxiety (15%) and depressive symptoms (10%), with similar trends observed worldwide. Impulsivity, in addition, is linked to various behavioral problems in childhood and adolescence, potentially resulting in challenges regarding emotional regulation as individuals advance in age. This protocol seeks to examine the interrelations between stress, sleep, and impulsivity in children and adolescents. Hence, herein, we present a methodological protocol designed to systematically collect data across these domains. The presented method uses mixed longitudinal methods to investigate the relationship between sleep, stress, and impulsivity in children, combining questionnaires, specialist evaluations, and data obtained from mobile sensors and speech analysis aimed at detecting impulsivity-related discourse patterns. The data obtained will be used to develop a cost-effective approach involving automatic and structured speech analysis, sleep pattern assessment and stress indicators captured by mobile devices. This will aid in the diagnosis of Impulse Control Disorders (ICD) in children and adolescents and provide valuable information for the diagnosis and implementation of the intervention program. Combining psychological expertise with technological innovation, the project will contribute to fundamental research and the development of digital tools to support young people’s mental health.

Touch, as one of the five primary senses, provides critical somatosensory information, including pressure, vibration, temperature, pain, and skin stress. Somatosensory deficits, often resulting from stroke or aging, significantly impair fingertip sensitivity, affecting daily function and quality of life. Vibrotactile stimulation devices have emerged as a modern therapeutic approach to address these deficits. A well-established bidirectional relationship exists between somatosensory function and sleep, where somatosensory stimulation aids sleep regulation, and sleep enhances somatosensory recovery. However, the potential of somatosensory therapy in ambulatory settings remains largely unexplored. While MRI and EEG have been used to measure the effects of somatosensory stimulation, current therapeutic evaluations still rely primarily on patient feedback, highlighting the need for objective assessment methods. This research initiates an in-depth literature review on the interplay between somatosensory therapy and sleep, alongside the application of EEG for therapy evaluation in home environments. The study aims to guide data selection strategies by sourcing information from patients, therapy sessions, sleep monitoring, and EEG recordings. A system architecture will be designed to integrate somatosensory therapy with sleep monitoring and EEG, addressing hardware requirements, communication protocols, and information architecture. Furthermore, deep learning models will be developed to analyze the interaction between sleep and somatosensory therapy, enabling personalized therapy adaptations.

Sleep is a crucial aspect of human well-being, with significant implications for overall health and quality of life. In response to the growing concern over sleep-related issues and the need for innovative solutions, this paper presents ‘Sleep Sheep’, an innovative system designed to monitor sleep and promote healthy sleep habits. The motivation behind Sleep Sheep stems from recognizing the vital role sleep plays in our daily lives. Inadequate sleep has been associated with various health problems, including cognitive impairments, mood disorders, and compromised immune function. Thus, addressing sleep-related concerns has become a pressing priority. To achieve its objectives, Sleep Sheep utilizes a smartphone application monitored by a doctor, to collect and analyze comprehensive sleep data, including sleep duration, sleep stages, and sleep disturbances. The collected data is then processed using several algorithms to provide results, which demonstrate its potential to impact sleep quality and overall well-being. By providing users with personalized sleep reports and actionable recommendations, Sleep Sheep makes individuals aware that they should adopt healthier sleep practices. These reports and recommendations, in turn, can lead to improved sleep duration, enhanced sleep efficiency, and a better overall sleep experience. By fostering awareness about the importance of sleep and providing individuals with the tools for being monitored by their doctors and improving their sleep, Sleep Sheep has the potential to make a substantial impact on public health. Ultimately, this innovative system aims to contribute to the well-being and quality of life of individuals by encouraging healthy sleep habits and optimizing sleep outcomes.

The classification of sleep and wake states is of paramount importance in the context of sleep disorders. In order to detect and monitor disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), it is essential to obtain the total sleep time (TST) so as to assess the severity of the patient’s sleep apnea. With the advent of new technologies for detecting events associated with sleep disorders, it is not always straightforward to calculate the sleep/wakefulness state. Consequently, this work presents the development of a deep learning model (a variant of U-Net) for the detection of sleep/wakefulness states. For this purpose, an engineering approach using Keras Tuner and the use of three signals with minimal processing was employed. The three signals, oxygen saturation (SpO2), heart rate (HR) and abdominal respiratory effort (AbdRes), were selected to ensure both patient comfort during signal collection and the possibility of using portable monitors. The models were trained and tested on data from polysomnography studies, namely the Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS) and the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). The best performing model achieved results with 88% binary precision, 88% recall, 89% precision, 89% f1-score and Cohen’s Kappa of 0.74 for the SHHS test set. The model obtained 82% binary accuracy, 82% recall, 84% precision, 82% f1-score and 0.62 Cohen’s kappa for the MESA data set.

There are a large number of scientific publications that focus on the development and evaluation of artificial intelligence (AI) models for the detection of various pathologies in the field of sleep medicine. However, most of these publications do not show the process or methodology to be followed for the final deployment of these models in a complete diagnostic system (in terms of software and hardware). This is a major drawback when translating from the development or research environment to the real clinical setting. This work focuses on a methodology for deploying an AI model for sleep apnea detection with the end user in mind: the clinician. For the deployment, the transmission of data between the device, the cloud platform and the machine learning server, as well as the protocols used, were considered. In addition, the storage and visualization of the data has been taken into account so that it can be analyzed accurately by experts.

Non-invasive sleep monitoring holds significant promise for enhancing healthcare by offering insights into sleep quality and patterns. In this context, accurate detection of body position is crucial, as it provides essential information for diagnosing and understanding the causes of various sleep disorders, including sleep apnea. The aim of this work is to develop an efficient system for sleep position detection using a minimal number of FSR (Force Sensitive Resistor) sensors and advanced machine learning techniques. A hardware setup was developed incorporating 3 FSR sensors, on-board signal processing for frequency boundary filtering and gain adjustment, an ADC (Analog-to-digital converter), and a computing unit for data processing. The collected data was then cleaned and structured before applying various machine learning models, including Logistic Regression, Random Forest Classifier, Support Vector Classifier (SVC), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), and XGBoost. An experiment with 15 subjects in 4 different sleeping positions was conducted to evaluate the system. The SVC demonstrated notable performance with a test accuracy of 64%. Analysis of the results identified areas for future improvement, including better differentiation between similar positions. The study highlights the feasibility of using FSR sensors and machine learning for effective sleep position detection. However, further research is needed to improve accuracy and explore more advanced techniques. Future efforts will aim to integrate this approach into a comprehensive, unobtrusive sleep monitoring system, contributing to better healthcare services.

Driving behaviour is a critical factor in accidents today. Physiological factors have a significant impact on driving behaviour. A potential solution lies in vehicle services that benefit from sensing environmental conditions to improve road safety, such as collision avoidance routines in driver assistance systems. Stress, assessed subjectively or physiologically, influences decision making and behaviour, with implications for individuals and the economy. In this paper we present a novel approach to formulate a risk index by combining data from subjective self-reports and objective physiological measures (in particular heart rate). The model identifies stress tendencies in driving behaviour by monitoring behavioural and physiological markers. We present our evaluation results and explore potential ways to implement the model in vehicle systems and its implications for improving road safety. We discuss potential enhancements to improve driving safety and enable timely responses in situations with an increased risk of accidents due to stress or drowsiness.

Sufficient and regular sleep is essential for people’s physical and psychological health and a good life quality. Insomnia is one of the most frequent sleep disorders worldwide. Patients with a significant leak of sleep can also have a higher risk for depression. The main goal of this research was to create the concept of a software solution based on “Cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia” or short CBT-I, to support patients to enhance their sleep quality. But also, to make the monitoring of multiple patients more efficient and accessible, for the therapist’s side. Methods that can be quantified and are subsequently easy to automate were transferred, form CBT-I. One of the most essential components of this concept is the sleep diary, being used for the collection of the data for further processing. The PSQI questionnaire with an evaluation function was also included because it is an important tool for the therapist side. To guarantee access to the data and results for both sides, the data are stored on an online database. An internal test with 3 users confirmed a good user experience and has shown that the implementation of a user-friendly CBT-I based software solution for the simultaneous use is realizable and can provide benefits for patients and therapists. Like better monitoring and the automation of numerous proven CBT-I methods, e.g. sleep restriction or the transfer of CBT-I knowledge, making a considerable part of the process more efficient. This increase in efficiency can enable therapists to treat more patients simultaneously, while maintaining the same level of quality.

The importance of sleep in the life of a human being to function in nowadays society is known from a large number of studies. A standard method for sleep analysis is polysomnography (PSG), which uses multiple sensors to measure and analyze multiple signals, allowing precise and detailed sleep analysis. Nonetheless, the cost of using PSG technologies is high in terms of complexity, personnel and time. To overcome these shortcomings, alternative solutions can be used to reduce costs and increase comfort for patients. The objective of this work is to design and develop a prototype of the software component of the sleep analysis system, taking into account the aspects of data flow, data storage and user interface in addition to data processing. The software components implemented and developed in the Morpheus System and described in this article comprise a usable platform capable of assisting custom research implementations in IoT.

The development of automatic solutions for the detection of physiological events of interest is booming. Improvements in the collection and storage of large amounts of healthcare data allow access to these data faster and more efficiently. This fact means that the development of artificial intelligence models for the detection and monitoring of a large number of pathologies is becoming increasingly common in the medical field. In particular, developing deep learning models for detecting obstructive apnea (OSA) events is at the forefront. Numerous scientific studies focus on the architecture of the models and the results that these models can provide in terms of OSA classification and Apnea-Hypopnea-Index (AHI) calculation. However, little focus is put on other aspects of great relevance that are crucial for the training and performance of the models. Among these aspects can be found the set of physiological signals used and the preprocessing tasks prior to model training. This paper covers the essential requirements that must be considered before training the deep learning model for obstructive sleep apnea detection, in addition to covering solutions that currently exist in the scientific literature by analyzing the preprocessing tasks prior to training.

Sleep is an essential part of human existence, as we are in this state for approximately a third of our lives. Sleep disorders are common conditions that can affect many aspects of life. Sleep disorders are diagnosed in special laboratories with a polysomnography system, a costly procedure requiring much effort for the patient. Several systems have been proposed to address this situation, including performing the examination and analysis at the patient's home, using sensors to detect physiological signals automatically analysed by algorithms. This work aims to evaluate the use of a contactless respiratory recording system based on an accelerometer sensor in sleep apnea detection. For this purpose, an installation mounted under the bed mattress records the oscillations caused by the chest movements during the breathing process. The presented processing algorithm performs filtering of the obtained signals and determines the apnea events presence. The performance of the developed system and algorithm of apnea event detection (average values of accuracy, specificity and sensitivity are 94.6%, 95.3%, and 93.7% respectively) confirms the suitability of the proposed method and system for further ambulatory and in-home use.

Healthy sleep is one of the prerequisites for a good human body and brain condition, including general well-being. Unfortunately, there are several sleep disorders that can negatively affect this. One of the most common is sleep apnoea, in which breathing is impaired. Studies have shown that this disorder often remains undiagnosed. To avoid this, developing a system that can be widely used in a home environment to detect apnoea and monitor the changes once therapy has been initiated is essential. The conceptualisation of such a system is the main aim of this research. After a thorough analysis of the available literature and state of the art in this area of knowledge, a concept of the system was created, which includes the following main components: data acquisition (including two parts), storage of the data, apnoea detection algorithm, user and device management, data visualisation. The modules are interchangeable, and interfaces have been defined for data transfer, most of which operate using the MQTT protocol. System diagrams and detailed component descriptions, including signal requirements and visualisation mockups, have also been developed. The system's design includes the necessary concepts for the implementation and can be realised in a prototype in the next phase.

The influence of sleep on human health is enormous. Accordingly, sleep disorders can have a negative impact on it. To avoid this, they should be identified and treated in time. For this purpose, objective (with an appropriate device) or subjective (based on perceived values) measurement methods are used for sleep analysis to understand the problem. The aim of this work is to find out whether an exchange of the two methods is possible and can provide reliable results. In accordance with this goal, a study was conducted with people aged over 65 years old (a total of 154 night-time recordings) in which both measurement methods were compared. Sleep questionnaires and electronic devices for sleep assessment placed under the mattress were applied to achieve the study aims. The obtained results indicated that the correlation between both measurement methods could be observed for sleep characteristics such as total sleep time, total time in bed and sleep efficiency. However, there are also significant differences in absolute values of the two measurement approaches for some subjects/nights, which leads us to conclude that the substitution is more likely to be considered in case of long-term monitoring where the trends are of more importance and not the absolute values for individual nights.

Nowadays, the importance of early active patient mobilization in the recovery and rehabilitation phase has increased significantly. One way to involve patients in the treatment is a gamification-like approach, which is one of the methods of motivation in various life processes. This article shows a system prototype for patients who require physical activity because of active early mobilization after medical interventions or during illness. Bedridden patients and people with a sedentary lifestyle (predominantly lying in bed) are also potential users. The main idea for the concept was non-contact system implementation for the patients making them feel effortless during its usage. The system consists of three related parts: hardware, software, and game application. To test the relevance and coherence of the system, it was used by 35 people. The participants were asked to play a video game requiring them to make body movements while lying down. Then they were asked to take part in a small survey to evaluate the system's usability. As a result, we offer a prototype consisting of hardware and software parts that can increase and diversify physical activity during active early mobilization of patients and prevent the occurrence of possible health problems due to predominantly low activity. The proposed design can be possibly implemented in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and even at home.

Home health applications have evolved over the last few decades. Assistive systems such as a data platform in connection with health devices can allow for health-related data to be automatically transmitted to a database. However, there remain significant challenges concerning intermodular communication. Central among them is the challenge of achieving interoperability, the ability of devices to communicate and share data with each other. A major goal of this project was to extend an existing data platform (COMES®) and establish working interoperability by connecting assistive devices with differing approaches. We describe this process for a sleep monitoring and a physical exercise device. Furthermore, we aimed to test this setup and the implementation with a data platform in both a laboratory and an in-home setting with 11 elderly participants. The platform modification was realized, and the relevant changes were made so that the incoming data could be processed by the data platform, as well as visually displayed in real-time. Data was recorded by the respective device and transmitted into the data server with minor disruptions. Our observations affirmed that difficulties and data loss are far more likely to occur with increasing technical complexity, in the event of instable internet connection, or when the device setup requires (elderly) subjects to take specific steps for proper functioning. We emphasize the importance for tests and evaluations of home health technologies in real-life circumstances.

Healthy sleep is required for sufficient restoration of the human body and brain. Therefore, in the case of sleep disorders, appropriate therapy should be applied timely, which requires a prompt diagnosis. Traditionally, a sleep diary is a part of diagnosis and therapy monitoring for some sleep disorders, such as cognitive behaviour therapy for insomnia. To automatise sleep monitoring and make it more comfortable for users, substituting a sleep diary with a smartwatch measurement could be considered. With the aim of providing accurate results, a study with a total of 30 night recordings was conducted. Objective sleep measurement with a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 was compared with a subjective approach (sleep diary), evaluating the four relevant sleep characteristics: time of getting asleep, wake up time, sleep efficiency (SE), and total sleep time (TST). The performed analysis has demonstrated that the median difference between both measurement approaches was equal to 7 and 3 minutes for a time of getting asleep and wake up time correspondingly, which allows substituting a subjective measurement with a smartwatch. The SE was determined with a median difference between the two measurement methods of 5.22%. This result also implicates a possibility of substitution. Some single recordings have indicated a higher variance between the two approaches. Therefore, the conclusion can be made that a substitution provides reliable results primarily in the case of long-term monitoring. The results of the evaluation of the TST measurement do not allow to recommend substitution of the measurement method.

The scoring of sleep stages is an essential part of sleep studies. The main objective of this research is to provide an algorithm for the automatic classification of sleep stages using signals that may be obtained in a non-obtrusive way. After reviewing the relevant research, the authors selected a multinomial logistic regression as the basis for their approach. Several parameters were derived from movement and breathing signals, and their combinations were investigated to develop an accurate and stable algorithm. The algorithm was implemented to produce successful results: the accuracy of the recognition of Wake/NREM/REM stages is equal to 73%, with Cohen's kappa of 0.44 for the analyzed 19324 sleep epochs of 30 seconds each. This approach has the advantage of using the only movement and breathing signals, which can be recorded with less effort than heart or brainwave signals, and requiring only four derived parameters for the calculations. Therefore, the new system is a significant improvement for non-obtrusive sleep stage identification compared to existing approaches.

Normal breathing during sleep is essential for people’s health and well-being. Therefore, it is crucial to diagnose apnoea events at an early stage and apply appropriate therapy. Detection of sleep apnoea is a central goal of the system design described in this article. To develop a correctly functioning system, it is first necessary to define the requirements outlined in this manuscript clearly. Furthermore, the selection of appropriate technology for the measurement of respiration is of great importance. Therefore, after performing initial literature research, we have analysed in detail three different methods and made a selection of a proper one according to determined requirements. After considering all the advantages and disadvantages of the three approaches, we decided to use the impedance measurement-based one. As a next step, an initial conceptual design of the algorithm for detecting apnoea events was created. As a result, we developed an activity diagram on which the main system components and data flows are visually represented.

Homomorphic deconvolution is applied to sEMG signals recorded during walking. Gastrocnemius lateralis and tibialis anterior signals were acquired according to SENIAM recommendation. MUAP parameters like amplitude and scale were estimated, whilst the MUAP shape parameter was fixed. This features a useful time-frequency representation of sEMG signal. Estimation of scale MUAP parameter was verified extracting the mean frequency of filtered EMG signal, extracted from the scale parameter estimated with two different MUAP shape values.

Good sleep is crucial for a healthy life of every person. Unfortunately, its quality often decreases with aging. A common approach to measuring the sleep characteristics is based on interviews with the subjects or letting them fill in a daily questionnaire and afterward evaluating the obtained data. However, this method has time and personal costs for the interviewer and evaluator of responses. Therefore, it would be important to execute the collection and evaluation of sleep characteristics automatically. To do that, it is necessary to investigate the level of agreement between measurements performed in a traditional way using questionnaires and measurements obtained using electronic monitoring devices. The study presented in this manuscript performs this investigation, comparing such sleep characteristics as "time going to bed", "total time in bed", "total sleep time" and "sleep efficiency". A total number of 106 night records of elderly persons (aged 65+) were analyzed. The results achieved so far reveal the fact that the degree of agreement between the two measurement methods varies substantially for different characteristics, from 31 minutes of mean difference for "time going to bed" to 77 minutes for "total sleep time". For this reason, a direct exchange of objective and subjective measuring methods is currently not possible.

Polysomnography is a gold standard for a sleep study, and it provides very accurate results, but its cost (both personnel and material) are quite high. Therefore, the development of a low-cost system for overnight breathing and heartbeat monitoring, which provides more comfort while recording the data, is a well-motivated challenge. The system proposed in this manuscript is based on the usage of resistive pressure sensors installed under the mattress. These sensors can measure slight pressure changes provoked during breathing and heartbeat. The captured signal requires advanced processing, like applying filters and amplifiers before the analog signal is ready for the next step. Then, the output signal is digitalized and further processed by an algorithm that performs a custom filtering before it can recognize breathing and heart rate in real-time. The result can be directly visualized. Furthermore, a CSV file is created containing the raw data, timestamps, and unique IDs to facilitate further processing. The achieved results are promising, and the average deviation from a reference device is about 4bpm.

This work is a study about a comparison of survey tools and it should help developers in selecting a suited tool for application in an AAL environment. The first step was to identify the basic required functionality of the survey tools used for AAL technologies and to compare these tools by their functionality and assignments. The comparative study was derived from the data obtained, previous literature studies and further technical data. A list of requirements was stated and ordered in terms of relevance to the target application domain. With the help of an integrated assessment method, the calculation of a generalized estimate value was performed and the result is explained. Finally, the planned application of this tool in a running project is explained.

This paper presents the implementation of deep learning methods for sleep stage detection by using three signals that can be measured in a non-invasive way: heartbeat signal, respiratory signal, and movement signal. Since signals are measurements taken during the time, the problem is seen as time-series data classification. Deep learning methods are chosen to solve the problem are convolutional neural network and long-short term memory network. Input data is structured as a time-series sequence of mentioned signals that represent 30 seconds epoch, which is a standard interval for sleep analysis. The records used belong to the overall 23 subjects, which are divided into two subsets. Records from 18 subjects were used for training the data and from 5 subjects for testing the data. For detecting four sleep stages: REM (Rapid Eye Movement), Wake, Light sleep (Stage 1 and Stage 2), and Deep sleep (Stage 3 and Stage 4), the accuracy of the model is 55%, and F1 score is 44%. For five stages: REM, Stage 1, Stage 2, Deep sleep (Stage 3 and 4), and Wake, the model gives an accuracy of 40% and F1 score of 37%.

STUDENT PAPER The overall goal of this work is to detect and analyze a person’s movement, breathing and heart rate during sleep in a common bed overnight without any additional physical contact. The measurement is performed with the help of sensors placed between the mattress and the frame. A two-stage pattern classification algorithm has been implemented that applies statistics analysis to recognize the position of patients. The system is implemented in a sensors-network, hosting several nodes and communication end-points to support quick and efficient classification. The overall tests show convincing results for the position recognition and a reasonable overlap in matching.