This project aimed at developing a rehabilitation system capable of preventing apnea by a continuous intermittent stimulation and curing apnea, if prevention was unsuccessful, by a more vigorous stimulation of the hypoglossal nerve.
TOSAFES was a two-step project :
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development of the equipment and verification of this equipment on an animal model of sleep apnea, and then,
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validation of the equipment on sleep apnea patients, having the reassurance that the process is free of side effects (muscular fatigue, sleep fragmentation). This treatment, which acts non-invasively on one of the main patho-physiological factors of the disease, could shortly improve considerably the state of patients with apnea, a problem which up to now has been faced with a costly surgery with poor results.
ILSP / R.C. "Athena" dealt with the development of a detector of the onset and stop of the sleep apnea phenomenon based on the energy and the spectral content of some frequency zones of the recorded respiratory sound signal (containing breathing, snoring and probably apnea).