Respiratory Flow Estimation from Tracheal Sound by Adaptive Filters

In this study, average power of tracheal sound (Pave) was used to estimate flow by parametric method as well as adaptive filters as a nonparametric method. Based on some preliminary studies, an exponential model was used for describing the relationship between flow and Pave for parametric method. It was assumed that flow signal of at least one breath from each target flow is available for calibration. The error for flow estimation with parametric method, was found to be 9 ± 3 % and 10 ± 4 % for inspiration and expiration, respectively. Considering nonparametric method, the estimation error was the least for the third order adaptive filter using the average power of the tracheal sound (dB), which was 10 ± 3 % and 11 ± 4 % for inspiration and expiration, respectively.