Medgadget: A company called Sunrise has developed an at-home sleep apnea test that relies on a small wearable device. The device consists of a small sensor that a user can attach to their chin when they are about to go to sleep.
The sensor records movements of the jaw, which it correlates with sleep events using artificial intelligence. Sunrise has recently launched the device in the UK, and it is relatively inexpensive, starting at £49 ($66). Medgadget had the opportunity to talk to Laurent Martinot, CEO & Co-founder of Sunrise, about the technology.
Laurent Martinot: The Sunrise sleep test is an AI-powered innovative 3 gram sensor that sits on the user’s chin and helps to diagnose sleep disorders and monitors for sleep disorders from the comfort of your own bedroom.
Science has recently identified the most reliable signal to measure sleep. This signal comes from mandibular movements, the most direct proxy to the brain’s sleep and breathing regulation action. The real-time analysis of these mandibular movements consists of reading the activity generated by upper airway muscle contractions. This activity reflects the adjustments performed by the brain to preserve quality sleep and provides the data to allow a complete understanding of sleep events.
Since it directly comes from the brain stem, the most profound and primitive part of our brain, this signal is free from the interference of complex cortex activity. To the purpose of sleep analysis, it is therefore considered as purer.
