A model of a snorer's upper airway

In snorers, the physiologic decrease of postural muscle tone during sleep r esults in increased collapsibility of the upper airway. Measurement of nasa l pressure changes with prongs is increasingly used to monitor flow kinetic s through a collapsing upper airway. This report presents a mathematical mo del to predict nasal flow profile from three critical components that contr ol upper airway patency during sleep. The model includes the respiratory pu mp drive, the stiffness of the pharyngeal soft tissues, and the dynamic sup port of the muscles surrounding the upper airway. Depending on these three components, the proposed model is able to reproduce the characteristic chan ges in flow profile that are clinically observed in snorers and nonsnorers during sleep. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.