Sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and prolonged partial obstruction (PPO), affect millions worldwide, contributing to serious health issues like heart disease and diabetes. It is estimated that most remain undiagnosed and do not seek medical diagnosis.
Jose Maria Perez-Macias’ research tackles this challenge by leveraging EMFiT mattress sensors – thin, flexible devices placed under a mattress – to monitor snoring, breathing irregularities, and heart activity non-invasively in the comfort of our homes. These sensors offer the ability to monitor sleep continuously, alerting its users about their condition and thus enabling them to seek medical diagnosis.
The research introduces novel signal processing and machine learning techniques to analyze EMFiT sensor data. By isolating snoring patterns and detecting breathing effort spikes associated with PPO, Perez-Macias’ methods enhance the accuracy of sleep disorder detection.
Additionally, his work proposed a position-independent method to extract a heart pulse signal, resembling a photoplethysmogram, which reliably estimates heart rate regardless of the sleeper’s position.
“These advancements offer significant potential for improving public health. By enabling preliminary screenings at home, the bed-mattress sensor technology could reduce diagnostic delays, monitor sleep breathing disturbances, and improve treatment outcomes. The research also supports the growing trend of wearable and unobtrusive health monitoring, offering a foundation for future innovations in sleep medicine”, Perez-Macias says.
Originally from Spain, Jose Maria Perez-Macias conducted research at Tampere University and Tampere University Hospital (TAYS).
Public defence on Wednesday 4 June
The doctoral dissertation of MSc (Tech) Jose Maria Perez-Macias in the field of Biomedical Engineering titled Methods for Snoring and Heart Pulse Detection Using Unobtrusive Mattress Sensor will be publicly examined at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology at Tampere University at 12:00 o’clock on Wednesday, 4 June 2025, at Kauppi Campus, Arvo Building, Auditorium F115 (Arvo Ylpön katu 34, Tampere). The Opponent will be Antti Kulkas, Chief Physicist and Vice Head of the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Seinäjoki Central Hospital. The Custos will be Docent Jari Viik, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University.