Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Sleep apnea is a breathing disorder that causes a person to skip breaths while sleeping, resulting in low oxygen levels in the body and brain, and an emotional drain. When not addressed, the emotional drain becomes significant, spiraling in deteriorating physical health. In this context, breathing assistance devices are already widespread in the market, but present a need for an improved patient comfort. They have been known to provide either inadequate or too much assistance to the user. While breathing needs (and the associated comfort level) vary from patient to patient, and from breath to breath for the same patient, the current devices only offer a one-size-fits-all solution and do not address these individualized parameters. As a result, the majority of patients diagnosed with sleep disorders do not use their prescribed devices, which generates huge costs to the healthcare system. NovaResp Technologies Inc. (NovaResp), a Nova Scotia company therefore specializes in developing breathing-assist medical devices. *NovaResp has recently developed a concept for an add-on device (the BreatheAlong) to retrofit Continuous-Positive-Airway-Pressure (CPAP) machines for patients with Sleep Apnea. The company is now collaborating with Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) to evaluate the functional design of the BreatheAlong. This will help generate reliable data to demonstrate the validity of the product design in terms of use as anticipated, and the product acceptability to the target market, including customers and consumers. Therefore, the outcome of this project will help NovaResp gain valuable knowledge regarding the BreatheAlong and support the company's efforts to grow its business in the sector and bring the proposed device to market.