Breathing sensor selection during movement

A pressure sensor array placed below a mattress can be used to estimate the breathing effort signal unobtrusively. When multiple breathing effort sensor outputs are available, there is sometimes a need to choose the sensor with the best approximation of the actual breathing effort. Previous work with pressure sensor arrays placed on top of or under mattresses used for respiration rate and breathing signal estimation have used either the amplitude or the power spectrum to choose the most representative sensor. These methods are both useful when the subject is still; however, pressure sensor signals also contain movement. We propose and test a spectral ratio method for selection in the presence of movement. The spectral ratio method is good at finding strong breathing signals and at discriminating movement signals from strong breathing signals. This method provides a mean correlation to respiration bands that is 4% higher than the next best method during small movements and 14% higher during larger movements.