Leti, a research institute of CEA Tech, will demonstrate at CES 2018 its new wristband that measures physical indicators of a range of conditions, including sleep apnea, dehydration and dialysis-treatment response. 

APNEAband provides accurate, real-time detection of sleep-apnea events caused by pauses in breathing or shallow breaths during sleep. The wristband measures heart rate, variation in the time interval between heartbeats, oxygen saturation levels in the blood and stress level. The combination of these four indicators helps physicians make a complete and reliable medical diagnosis of sleep apnea.

“This small wristband eliminates the need to spend the night in a medical lab hooked up to sensors and equipment that measure these key indicators,” said Alexandre Thermet, Leti healthcare industrial partnership manager in the U.S. “APNEAband brings a safe, easy-to-use, affordable and non-invasive solution to detect sleep apnea at home.”

Working with Prof. Jean-Louis Pepin and his team at Grenoble Alpes University and INSERM from the Physiology Laboratory in Grenoble CHU’s hospital, Leti designed, developed and validated an advanced software technology that efficiently extracts and screens health parameters relevant to sleep apnea.  Pr. Pepin, a principal clinical-trial investigator at Grenoble CHU Hospital, and its team provided medical guidelines to support this sleep-apnea project.

APNEAband’s embedded technology can be applied to detect and track various other health conditions, such as acute mountain sickness, dehydration, dialysis treatment response, chronic pain, epileptic seizures, phobia and panic disorder. The wristband’s cardiac-coherence biofeedback also helps people who want to achieve total relaxation with simple breathing exercises. Possible applications also include detecting work-related stress or hot flashes and stress, while playing video games.