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Beyond facial recognition, a novel identification method may be on the horizon. Researchers have identified what they term a “respiratory fingerprint,” a distinct mode of breathing unique to each individual. This discovery, a potential revolution in the field of respiratory health monitoring, could drastically change how we diagnose and manage various medical conditions, ranging from obesity to depression, offering new avenues for diagnosing health conditions and customized breathing treatments.
Wearable Device Detects Unique Breathing Patterns
The groundbreaking work originates from Timna Soroka and her team at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. They have engineered a wearable device capable of capturing the subtle details of an individual’s nasal airflow or breathing patterns.
Torben Noto, at Osmo in New York, commented that this work addresses long-standing questions about how respiratory signals relate to mental state and health.
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The Evolution of Respiratory Research
The concept that breathing patterns hold health-related data isn’t new; investigations dating back to the 1950s suggested this link. However, until now, the absence of a wearable device capable of recording nasal breathing data in ambulatory subjects limited studies to hospital patients, whose breathing is monitored for an hour or less.
Developing a Wearable Solution
To overcome this limitation, Soroka and her colleagues designed a wearable device and provided it to 97 participants, who wore it for 24 hours. Subsequently, they trained an algorithm to identify unique combinations of 24 parameters – encompassing everything from the volume of air inhaled to the frequency of breath-holding. The algorithm accurately identified participants with near-perfect precision, and this signature remained consistent over a two-year follow-up period.
Applications Beyond Biometrics
Noam Sobel, a team member from the Weizmann Institute, clarifies that the device isn’t intended for biometric applications. Instead, its primary objective is to unlock valuable insights into health.
- Body mass index (BMI) could be predicted using parameters of the nasal cycle.
- The rhythm in which nostrils fluctuate between being more or less open correlates with BMI.
Understanding the Nasal Cycle
According to Sobel, this cycle is mediated by the balance between the sympathetic nervous system, which prepares the body for a “fight or flight” response, and the parasympathetic system, which calms the body. Measurements of airflow in your nostrils provide an understanding of sympathetic arousal, which appears to correlate with BMI.
Sobel speculates whether breathing patterns could influence weight, stating that if that’s true, they will find the breathing pattern that promotes leanness.
Breathing’s Link to Mental Wellbeing
Respiratory data also unveiled associations between specific breathing aspects and levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. For instance, individuals experiencing pronounced depressive symptoms exhibited faster inhalation rates.
The team is currently exploring whether breathing patterns directly cause these symptoms. The goal is to determine if breathing can be leveraged to diagnose common mental health conditions, potentially leading to treatments via breathing exercises.
Future Implications for Respiratory Monitoring
Noto envisions a future where nasal airflow monitoring devices are prescribed to patients to track treatment, provide feedback, and predict outcomes for various disorders. The device could also enable individuals to recognize deviations from their normal respiration, indicating a huge impact on human health.