COMPASS

What

According to a 2016 report by the European Respiratory Society (ERS), the cost of respiratory diseases in the EU is estimated at € 380 billion per year. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) proved to be the most expensive respiratory disease, accounting for € 141.4 billion. The economic cost includes direct health care costs - such as hospitalizations, medication and doctor visits - and indirect costs such as lost productivity due to illness and premature death. The number of cases of lung diseases and the associated costs continue to rise due to factors such as aging, smoking, lifestyle and environment.

Although respiratory physiotherapy plays a key role in the treatment of lung diseases, adherence to therapy is generally very low. There are several reasons for this: the therapy is time-consuming, must be performed daily and is very repetitive. The techniques are difficult to learn and master, and guidance by experienced therapists is required. The current practice and available therapeutic devices lack objective measurements and feedback mechanisms, which hinder the learning process.

Goal

This project aims to design a tool that visualizes breathing sounds, airflow and volume to provide objective feedback to therapists and patients on the effectiveness of the previous breathing cycle and the next breathing action that needs to be taken. This project enables Thomas More and KU Leuven to transfer research results to the industry at national and international level.

Relevance

By providing objective measurements and feedback mechanisms, the efficiency, compliance and adherence of the treatment can be improved. This will significantly improve the lives of many patients and their families, and significant savings can be achieved on health costs.

Our role

Mobilab & Care collects data, conducts research on the feedback to the patient and the proposal of action suggestion (to the breathing pattern) and is responsible for the validation of the prototype. M&C can build on a previous project, BreatheBox, which also aimed to support patients with respiratory disorders.

KU Leuven provides the setup for collecting the audio data, develops algorithms for detecting and localizing breathing sounds, both in time and in space. It has extensive knowledge of data-driven audio processing, detection and localization.

UZ Brussels is responsible for recruiting and monitoring patients. Respiratory physiotherapists with extensive experience in autogenic drainage will perform the therapy on the patients during data collection.