Jul 2, 2021

Sleep experts at Flinders University are participating in a new trial to help people with individual sleep disorders – via testing on a new mattress sensor.

The sleep disorder diagnostic and monitoring trial will be conducted using REMi invisible sensor technology – developed by RMIT University for Melbourne-based R&D company Sleeptite – to study its ability as a as a validation tool for sleep disorders.

Flinders University project leader Associate Professor Andrew Vakulin said the research aimed to develop and validate metrics and algorithms for measuring sleep using REMi sensors, and further improve their ability to provide informative data.

“Sleep, exercise, and a healthy diet are essential for a healthy life, and not getting enough sleep – including with an untreated sleep disorder – can have serious long and short-term health consequences,” explains Associate Professor Vakulin.

Our research aims to prove that Sleeptite REMi sensors give a reliable measure of sleep quality and sleep disturbances, which will ultimately lead to new applications to help consumers improve their sleep.

Andrew Vakulin, Associate Professor, Flinders University

The trial was made possible by funding received from CRC for vigilance, safety and productivity.

REMi is the result of a grant from the Australian Government Cooperative Research Centers (CRC-P) project, which has enabled basic research from RMIT laboratories to translate into a commercial outcome.

Launched in March, the technology is designed to non-intrusively monitor residents of senior care facilities.

Sensors on the surface of a mattress provide real-time information on residents’ position, posture and sleep health.

Sleeptite CEO Cameron van den Dungen says the new research has harnessed the potential of REMi to provide sleep diagnostic information outside of an elderly care setting.

“With a recent report from the Sleep Health Foundation and Deloitte showing that one in 10 Australians suffers from a sleep disorder, at a national economic cost of $ 14.4 billion, there has never been so much need for research in this area “, said Mr van den Dungen. said.

I am excited to see further scientific research showing how the Sleeptite REMi Platform can be used as a sleep diagnostic tool to determine sleep disorders such as sleep apnea.

Cameron van den Dungen, CEO, Sleeptite

The technology will be put to the test by experts from the Sleep Health team at Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute at Flinders University, in collaboration with RMIT.

Group co-leader Prof Madhu Bhaskaran of the Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group at RMIT said the team is excited to continue working with Sleeptite in important new areas of research.

“The flexible and expandable sensors developed at RMIT are part of what makes REMi unique – and it is this near and unresponsive technology that will allow sleep studies to be performed in much more natural environments,” he says.

“We look forward to discovering new partnership avenues for this platform technology and the opportunity to forge deep collaborations to take this world-first system beyond care for the elderly. “

The REMi sleep diagnostic assessment trial at Flinders is expected to last six months and include further capacity testing of the REMi sensors; identify key parameters related to sleep; establish relationships between sensor signals and sleep measurements; and develop an algorithm that will recognize the quality of sleep.

The REMi Sleep Diagnostic Assessment Trial will involve 30 participants and will be evaluated against polysomnography (PSG) results, which are considered the industry gold standard.

Facts about sleep disorders and sleep health

• 1 in 10 Australians suffer from a sleep disorder that can drastically affect their well-being, safety and productivity
• In the last fiscal year (2019-2020), lack of sleep cost the Australian economy $ 14.4 billion, or 0.73% of Australia’s GDP
• Less than 7% of these costs relate to treatments for sleep disorders
• The non-financial costs of the welfare loss totaled an additional $ 36.6 billion
• These costs were distributed among the three major sleep disorders: obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia, and restless leg syndrome.