Study on Noncontact Pulmonary Function Test Using Pattern Light Projection

Abstract

The pulmonary function test by spirometer is generally conducted. The test subjects, especially children, women and older people, feel uncomfortable as the mouthpiece and nasal plug must be attached to the face of them. We have studied the nonrestraint pulmonary function test using the dot matrix pattern projection in order to decrease the burden to the examinee. In our proposed system, the pattern light projector illuminates the thorax with the dot matrix pattern light. And the CCD camera takes a series of images of the dot matrix pattern. The three dimensional shape of the thorax surface can be calculated by the distribution of light dots. And the respiratory waveform is calculated by the time-series change of the three dimensional shape. The respiratory waveform of our system was similar to one of spirometer. Therefore, we clarified that our proposed system can equivalently measure the respiration with spirometer. And we compared the volume change of the three dimensional shape calculated by our system with the expired tidal volume measured by the expiration gas analyzer. And we examined the relationship between the expired tidal volume and the volume change of the thorax surface.