Hundreds of thousands of lower-grade breathing devices are going unused because manufacturers say they can’t perform life-saving functions. But a new patch might change that.

As infections from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continue to climb, hospitals around the world are struggling with a potentially fatal shortage of ventilators, the bedside machines that help patients breathe when they’re unable to do so on their own. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of lower-grade breathing devices known as continuous positive airway pressure machines sit idle in closets or warehouses because their manufacturers say they can’t perform the same life-saving functions.

Security researcher Trammell Hudson analyzed the AirSense 10—the world’s most widely used CPAP—and made a startling discovery. Although its manufacturer says the AirSense 10 would require “significant rework to function as a ventilator,” many ventilator functions were already built into the device firmware.

https://www.wired.com/story/a-vital-hack-could-turn-medical-devices-into-ventilators/

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/04/firmware-jailbreak-lets-low-cost-medical-devices-act-like-ventilators/

https://airbreak.dev/

Getting screened for sleep apnea often means spending a night in a special clinic hooked up to sensors that measure your brain activity, eye movement, and blood oxygen levels. But for long-term, more convenient monitoring of sleep apnea, a team of researchers has developed a wearable device that tracks a user’s breathing.

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8963717