Real-time acoustic analysis for flow rate estimation in a medical aerosol application

Abstract

Aerosol delivery of the medication into the lungs is a non-invasive method providing instantaneous therapy to human patients while offering minimal risks of associated side effects. Inhalers are commonly used to deliver medication through the airways to treat respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases). The reported research deals with the development of a method and associated electronic device that automatically evaluates a compliance with the prescribed inhalation therapeutic procedure. It also provides instantaneous feedback and guides the patient to the right application procedure of the inhaler. The goal is achieved through the acoustic analysis of user's inhalation effort using an inventive pressured metered dosed inhaler (pMDI). The embedded low-cost electronics device performs the real-time flow rate estimation to detect audio signals, and provides haptic feedback based on the user's inhalation performance and procedure.