Achieved through Contour Engineering to Improve Tolerance (FACE-IT)

阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）是一种常见的情况，在睡眠中喉咙肌肉放松，气道变窄，阻碍正常呼吸。如果不及时治疗，气道狭窄会导致严重的健康问题，包括心血管事件和中风。睡眠呼吸暂停信托基金会估计，英国有1亿1000万人患有阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停，其中30%的人没有接受治疗。唯一有效的治疗方法是使用贴身的面罩，它可以提供持续的正气压来固定气道。不幸的是，口罩不舒服，人们不再戴了。如果可以通过改善契合度来提高口罩依从性，就可以挽救生命并降低相关的健康/社会经济成本。目前，CPAP口罩的适合度由经验丰富的临床医生使用现成的口罩进行评估。提出的博士通过开发高保真的头形来解决改进面罩设计和适合性评估的空白。解剖模型将包括多层软组织，可变形的软体机器人面部，以促进特定区域的形状和刚性适应，模拟用户不适合通用口罩尺寸（例如肥胖或不同种族）时经常观察到的脂肪区域。将对口罩设计进行测试，并测量压力点，从而进行可量化和比较的舒适性测试，从而无需在真实患者身上进行测试，并在概念阶段快速迭代口罩设计

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a common condition where throat muscles relax during sleep, narrowing the airway, obstructing normal breathing. Airway-narrowing can occur>100x/night causing significant health problems if untreated, including cardiovascular events and strokes. The Sleep Apnoea Trust estimate>10M people have OSA in the UK with 30% not complying with therapy. The only effective treatment uses tight-fitting face masks which provide continuous positive air pressure to splint the airways open. Unfortunately, masks are uncomfortable and people stop wearing them. If mask compliance could be increased by improving the fit, it could save lives and associated health/socioeconomic costs. Currently CPAP mask fit is assessed by experienced clinicians using off-the-shelf masks. The proposed PhD addresses a gap to improve mask design and fit assessment through the development of a high-fidelity head-form. The anatomical model will include multi-layer soft tissues, a morphable soft-robotic face to facilitate shape and rigidity adaptation in specified areas simulating fatty areas often observed with users not fitting generic mask sizes (e.g. obese or differing ethnicities). Mask designs will be tested and pressure points measured leading to quantifiable and comparative comfort testing, removing the need to test on real patients and iterate mask designs rapidly at the concept stage