Machine mimics the subtleties of snoring

SCIENTISTS have invented a machine that snores like a human in the hope of identifying people with sleep apnoea syndrome, a type of snoring that can cause daytime drowsiness and even heart attacks, writes Steve Connor.

The machine has already helped the researchers to capture the human snore in a mathematical formula which uses pitch and loudness of the offending sound to predict airspeed at the back of the throat.

Claude Depollier, an acoustics researcher at the University of Maine in Le Mans, France, said the machine had enabled him to mimic the subtleties of the human snore.

The machine is about 18ins tall and has an artificial mouth and nose, pharynx and soft palate - the fleshy structure at the back of the mouth that vibrates at a higher frequency than the rest of the throat during a snore. By varying the airflow through the machine's mouth and nose and altering the diameter of the air passages and length and flexibility of the pliable palate, Dr Depollier and his colleague Yves Auregan have managed to duplicate the human snore.

'For us it is very important and interesting to know how the soft palate can vibrate. It enables us to distinguish between two types of snorers,' Dr Depollier said.

Some snorers have a soft palate that is too long, causing it to vibrate too easily. The other type of snorer has a narrow air tract, which is more likely to lead to sleep apnoea.

Sleep apnoea occurs when the airways at the back of the throat temporarily collapse because of involuntary relaxation of the muscles. This causes severe sleep disturbance leading to daytime drowsiness and even memory impairment. Occasionally, sleep apnoea can bring on heart attacks because of oxygen starvation.