Mapping the human body for vibrations using an accelerometer.

In this paper, an accelerometer is used to measure the vibration of the neck and thorax, in order to detect important signals that can be used in the diagnosis of sleep apnoea. Accelerations produced by the heart signals, the breathing movement and the snoring sounds are detected by an accelerometer attached to the skin. Mean power levels of the signal in different frequency bands are used to map the surface of the neck and thorax, where the accelerometer has been positioned in 15 different locations. A program in Matlab is used to fit this surface plot. Getting an adequate location for the accelerometer is a clear help to the diagnosis of sleep apnea.