E-Textiles using fabric sensors have been studied well for respiration monitoring in recent years; they can estimate respiratory rates and patterns. However, studies of respiratory volume and flow estimation remain unestablished, although they are necessary for the inspection and monitoring of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In this paper, we introduce a new stretchable textile sensor and examine how to calculate respiratory volume. The sensor can stretch up to about 150% (e.g., 13 to 20 cm). The stretch can be detected from the electronic potential changes between conductive fibers. We analyzed the relationships between the respiratory volume and the torso-surface movements using motion capture. In our evaluation, the mean rooted mean standard errors (RMSEs) of the estimated volumes were 0.39 ± 0.17 (L) among four datasets with motion capture and 0.62 ± 0.22 (L) among three datasets with the textile sensor. In addition, we successfully drew a similar flow volume curve (FVC) to those captured with a spirometer.
Respiratory Volume Monitoring in the Perioperative Setting Across Multiple Centers
