SNIFF DETECTION AND ARTIFACT DISTINCTION FROM ELECTROMYOGRAPHY AND ACCELEROMETER SIGNALS

Non-invasive systems and methods for quantifying respiratory muscle effort (RME) (or breathing effort, work-of-breathing) are provided. The systems and methods utilize simultaneously measured EMG and accelerometer signals. The measured EMG signal is preprocessed to produce both a signal accentuating regular breathing activity and a signal accentuating sniff activity (deep, sharp inhalations). Time intervals of candidate sniffs are determined from the preprocessed EMG signals. The measured accelerometer signal is preprocessed to produce multiple signals accentuating either upper or lower frequency band activity. Features of the preprocessed EMG and accelerometer signals corresponding to the time intervals of candidate sniffs are analyzed to determine if the candidate sniffs constitute actual sniffs or artifacts. Subsequently, after maximum sniff effort has been identified, RME is quantified by the ratio of the mean of the maxima of regular breathing activity to the value of the maximum sniff effort.