Biomechanical modelling of palatal snoring

Recent research has shown that snoring generates sleep disturbances and apnoeas, which, if not treated, could lead to a number of health problems like headaches or heart problems. The physical cause of snoring is an obstruction of the human upper airway found at three primary sites: soft palate, pharynx or tongue. Although palatal flutter may not be the only cause of snoring, it is found to be the dominant mechanical factor in many subjects. The main objective of this study is to design a biomechanical model of the soft palate in order to analyze its vibration behavior. The model, based on fluid dynamics fundamentals, can be used to compare the vibration of a healthy soft palate to a problematic one, considering its length and stiffness, and, thus, it could be a useful tool to estimate the effectiveness of the current treatments to snoring problem.