Sleep-related breathing disorders, including sleep apnea, affect millions of people worldwide but frequently go undiagnosed. One major barrier to diagnosis is the test itself.

Traditional sleep monitoring systems often rely on bulky equipment and nasal cannulas — small tubes inserted into the nostrils to measure airflow. While effective, these systems can be uncomfortable, intrusive, and difficult to tolerate overnight, limiting their use for long-term monitoring at home.

Now, researchers led by W. Hong Yeo, Peterson Professor in Pediatric Research at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, have developed a soft, wireless nasal patch that could offer a more comfortable alternative for monitoring breathing during sleep.

The technology, described in a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), uses ultrathin, skin-like wearable electronics to detect subtle movements of the nose caused by breathing without tubes, wires, or direct airflow measurements.