It’s true that there was once a summer camp for asthmatic kids called Camp Wheeze. It was in the San Francisco Bay Area, and that’s where one of our team members learned all about their asthma. But after their first year at the camp, and after some suggestions from parents, the camp was re-named Camp Breathe Easy. If only the camp had access to these vests from the Pneumo Vest project. They offer a non-invasive way to monitor lung function. Here’s more from Wearable Technology Insights:
As part of the Pneumo.Vest project, researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS at the Berlin office have developed a textile vest with integrated acoustic sensors, presenting a high-performance addition to the traditional stethoscope. Piezoceramic acoustic sensors have been incorporated into the front and back of the vest to register any noise produced by the lungs in the thorax, no matter how small. A software program records the signals and electronically amplifies them, while the lungs are depicted visually on a display. As the software knows the position of each individual sensor, it can attribute the data to its precise location. This produces a detailed acoustic and optical picture of the ventilation situation of all parts of the lungs. Here is what makes it so special: As the system collects and stores the data permanently, examinations can take place at any given time and in the absence of hospital staff. Pneumo.Vest also indicates the status of the lungs over a period of time, for example over the previous 24 hours.
And if monitoring oxygenation levels is important to you, here’s a project that uses our Adafruit Feather nRF52840 Express and Adalogger FeatherWing, along with a Finger Pulse Oximeter to log oxygen levels:
Pulse Oximeter Wireless Data Logger