Respiration Rate Estimation with Depth Cameras: An Evaluation of Parameters

Depth cameras have been known to be capable of picking up the small changes in distance from users' torsos, to estimate respiration rate. Several studies have shown that under certain conditions, the respiration rate from a non-mobile user facing the camera can be accurately estimated from parts of the depth data. It is however to date not clear, what factors might hinder the application of this technology in any setting, what areas of the torso need to be observed, and how readings are affected for persons at larger distances from the RGB-D camera. In this paper, we present a benchmark dataset that consists of the point cloud data from a depth camera, which monitors 7 volunteers at variable distances, for variable methods to pin-point the person's torso, and at variable breathing rates. Our findings show that the respiration signal's signal-to-noise ratio becomes debilitating as the distance to the person approaches 4 metres, and that bigger windows over the person's chest work particularly well. The sampling rate of the depth camera was also found to impact the signal's quality significantly.