Asthmatic airways obstruction assessment based on detailed analysis of respiratory sound spectra

This paper concerns the analysis of adventitious sounds produced by individual asthmatic patients, and relates the sounds to the degree of airways obstruction at the moment of sound recording. In this study, airways obstruction is represented by a parameter commonly used in clinical tests, the forced expiratory volume in one second. A nonrestrictive approach using spectral information in detail is followed, resulting in a fairly high resolution of respiration sounds with respect to airways obstruction. The beneficial effect of a power raising transformation is presented, together with an illumination of the background of this effect.