Acta Oto-Laryngolog ica. 2015; Early Online, 1–7
REVIEW
Acoustic analysis of overnight consecutive snoring sounds by sound
pressure levels
HAO PENG, HUIJIE XU, ZHAN GAO, WEINING HUANG & YUXIA HE
Department of Otolaryngology, Beijing Hospital, Dongdan, Beijing, PR China
Abstract
Conclusion: The sound pressure level (SPL) parameters, especially the A-weighted equivalent sound level (LAeq) and
accumulative percentile sound level 10 (L10), were significantly different between simple snoring (SS) and obstructive sleep
apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was the most significant factor to affect the SPLs of
snoring sounds. LAeq and L10 were valuable acoustic characters of snoring which could reflect the severity of sleep disordered
breathing in clinic. Objectives: Due to the limitation of acoustic analysis of single snoring sound for snorers, this study analyzed
characteristics of consecutive snoring sounds overnight by the SPLs in patients of SS and OSAHS. Method: Ninety-four
patients who underwent simultaneous SPL recording and polysomnography (PSG) were included in this study. Parameters of
SPL such as LAeq, peak sound level (Lpeak), L10, L50, and L90 were analyzed. The correlation between these parameters and
PSG results was also analyzed. Results: The LAeq and L10 in OSAHS patients were significantly different from patients with
SS. The body mass index (BMI) was positively correlated to LAeq and L10. Among various factors of PSG data and
demographic factors, the SPLs were mostly affected by the AHI and the lowest oxygen saturation (LSaO
2
).
Keywords: Obstructive sleep apnea-hyponea syndrome, simple snoring, equivalent sound level, accumulative percentile sound
level
Introduction
Snoring is a dominant symptom in patients with sus-
pected sleep disordered breathing (SDB). Depending
on the severity of SDB, snoring demonstrates as simple
snoring (SS) without further respiratory events (like
apneas, hyponeas) and obstructive sleep apnea-
hyponea syndrome (OSAHS). However, it may be
that ‘simple’ snoring does not exist, because, when
the sleep of a bed partner is disturbed,
snoring constitutes a social nuisance [1]. Studies con-
cerning the prevalence of snoring show widely varying
figures, ~50% of the adults suffer from snoring. Up to
64% of men and 36% of women in Spain are classified
as simple snorers [2]. The prevalence of OSAHS in
middle-aged people is 2% in women and 4% in men
and roughly 75–85% of patients with OSAHS are
undiagnosed [3]. In the past 30 years, OSAHS has
become one of the most dangerous diseases which
could impair many organs and lead to serial chronic
diseases such as hypertension, heart failure,
type 2 diabetes, stoke, reflex laryngitis, etc. [4].
Overnight polysomnography (PSG) is regarded as a
golden standard for OSAHS diagnosis. However,
PSG is rather complicated, which affects patients’
normal sleep and, hence, cannot reflect the real sleep
situation. Furthermore, PSG is too expensive to apply
night to night. Therefore, researchers pay great atten-
tion to developing easier and more convenient meth-
ods for diagnosing OSAHS.
Snoring sound analysis has been paid great atten-
tion to in the past two decades. Acoustic characteristic
of the single snoring sound has been we ll clarified,
which is meani ngful for investigating sleep disordered
breathing (SDB) [5–9]. However, the acoustic anal-
ysis of single snoring sound fails to reflect the overall
Correspondence: Huijie Xu, Department of Otolaryngology, Beijing Hospital, No. 1 Dahua Road, Beijing, PR China. Tel: +86 10 85136292.
Fax: +86 1065136292. E-mail: xhj0531@163.com
(Received 14 January 2015; accepted 3 March 2015)
ISSN 0001-6489 print/ISSN 1651-2251 online 2015 Informa Healthcare
DOI: 10.3109/00016489.2015.1027414
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