Abstract

Identification of Snoring in a Medical Perspective

di Pevernagie Dirk

Snoring is a prevalent disorder affecting 20–40% of the general population. The mechanism of snoring is vibration of anatomical structures in the pharyngeal airway. Flutter of the soft palate accounts for the harsh aspect of the snoring sound. Natural or drug-induced sleep is required for its appearance. Snoring is subject to many influences such as body position, sleep stage, route of breathing and the presence or absence of sleep-disordered breathing. Its presentation may be variable within or between nights. While snoring is generally perceived as a social nuisance, rating of its noisiness is subjective and, therefore, inconsistent. Objective assessment of snoring is important to evaluate the effect of treatment interventions. Moreover, snoring carries information relating to the site and degree of obstruction of the upper airway. If evidence for monolevel snoring at the site of the soft palate is provided, the patient may benefit from palatal surgery. It appears that the pitch of the snoring sound is in the low-frequency range (<500 Hz) and corresponds to a fundamental frequency with associated harmonics. The pitch of snoring is determined by vibration of the soft palate, while nonpalatal snoring is more ‘noise-like’, and has scattered energy content in the higher spectral sub-bands (>500 Hz). To evaluate acoustic properties of snoring, sleep nasendoscopy is often performed. Whether some acoustic aspects of snoring, such as changes in pitch, have predictive value for the presence of obstructive sleep apnea is at present not sufficiently substantiated.

Obiettivi di apprendimento

Dopo la tua relazione sarai in grado di know the pathophysiology and acoustics of snoring
Dopo la tua relazione sarai in grado di choose among various diagnostic options to diagnose snoring
Dopo la tua relazione sarai in grado di estimate which therapeutic interventions will effectively reduce snoring