University of Texas at Arlington: Testing for Sleep
Conditions Made Easier with Ultrasonic Sensors
expected to make the detection of disease more affordable and allow more people to be diagnosed. In its final production form, the device could be a simple collar that a patient wears around the neck — enabling the patient to sleep in the comfort of his or her own home as opposed to the cumbersome detection methods used in a sleep laboratory.
KHOSROW BEHBEHANI, Ph.D., serves as Dean of
the College of Engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington. He is a leading innovator in developing methods and devices for detection and treatment of sleep-disordered breathing, which is a chronic pulmonary disease. He is the recipient of The University of Texas System Chancellor’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Award, and holds nine U.S. patents, some of which are internationally registered. More than a million patients have been treated with devices designed using his bioengineering innovations. He is a Fellow of both the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Sleep apnea is a chronic interruption of breathing that can lead to hypertension, heart failure, and even brain damage and affects an estimated 15 percent of adults nationwide. Tests for sleep apnea are cumbersome and expensive and after a long night of being attached to wires and experiencing restless sleep, tests are sometimes inconclusive and might require another night’s stay. Behbehani and a team of bioengineers at The University of Texas at Arlington, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and medical specialists from Sleep Consultants Inc. in Fort Worth Texas have recently developed an ultrasonic device that can detect whether a person suffers from sleep apnea. This device can ultimately be applied without the inconvenience or higher cost associated with an overnight stay at a sleep center.
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ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON
The device uses ultrasonic sensors attached to a patient’s neck during sleep. Non-audible sound waves are sent across the neck to detect whether the patient’s airway is open to allow airflow to the lungs. Dean Behbehani’s previous sleep apnea invention was developed and licensed in the 1990s. The “smart” sleep apnea machine uses a pressure sensor and continuously monitors and adjusts the level of air pressure that pumps into a patient’s airway, keeping it open and regulating the airflow. More than half a million patients who have been diagnosed with sleep apnea have benefited from this device alone. The new system promises a speedier path to diagnosis and relief. Unlike the current diagnostics tests that can total $2,000, thus creating barriers for patients who are suffering, the new system is
About The University of Texas at Arlington: The University of Texas at Arlington is a comprehensive research institution of nearly 33,800 students and more than 2,200 faculty members. UT Arlington is the second-largest member of The University of Texas System and generated $71.4 million in research expenditures last year, a sum that has tripled over the past decade. UT Arlington has increasing expertise in bioengineering, medical diagnostics, micromanufacturing, and defense and Homeland Security technologies, among other areas.