a future AI-based application to diagnose sleep apnea with a smartphone

Apnéal is a very promising French application to facilitate the detection of sleep apnea, a very widespread pathology – 20% of us are affected – and little diagnosed, since 80% of patients do not know it.

The revolution is that the French application APNÉAL, currently under development, does not need to communicate with electrodes, a bracelet or any medical equipment, to detect sleep apnea: a piece of adhesive and a smartphone are enough, knowing that 90% of current phone models are compatible.

The application relies on the microphone and two of the sensors, the accelerometer and the gyroscope. They each provide up to 1,500 measurements per second. Severin Benizri, one of the three co-founders of APNEAL, explains to franceinfo how to install the smartphone, fully charged, and in airplane mode, before going to sleep:

“It is positioned on the thorax, with the microphone facing the mouth, fixed over the pajamas with an adhesive bandage, which can be found in any pharmacy, which makes the examination completely accessible. The sensors of the phone will allow us to record the movements of the rib cage – when the thorax inflates and deflates – the heartbeat, as well as the sound of breathing.”

The smartphone taped to the pajamas

When you wake up, this data is sent to the APNÉAL servers, where it will be analyzed, using artificial intelligence algorithms, and models created by the start-up, by studying patients equipped with both a smartphone and a polysomnograph, the reference medical measuring device.

How can we judge the scientific and medical value of this application under development? I asked the question to Doctor Justine Frida, pulmonologist and sleep specialist, at the sleep center at Bichat hospital in Paris. After an initial test on 45 patients, she is leading the ongoing clinical study in three countries (France, Spain, Germany) on 500 patients this time, with results expected in mid-2025. Doctor Frida insists on seriousness and “very good agreement” between the estimates provided by APNÉAL and polysomnography. The creators of the start-up estimate reliability at 90%. And so, in nine cases out of ten, the results coincide.

Less than 50 euros for an exam

Ultimate goal for the application: certification as a software medical device, and CE marking, a long and complex process, which could take three years. In the meantime, the APNÉAL team is aiming for September 2024, to allow volunteers to test the application, before the start of marketing – price hypothesis: less than 50 euros per examination – and the hope of a covered, potentially 70%, by Social Security.