Available online at www.ijournalse.org
Emerging Science Journal
(ISSN: 2610-9182)
Vol. 7, No. 1, February, 2023
Page | 50
SleepCon: Sleeping Posture Recognition Model using Convolutional
Neural Network
Jesmeen M. Z. H.
1*
, Thangavel Bhuvaneswari
1*
, Abdul Hadi Mazbah
2
,
Yeo Boon Chin
1
, Lim Heng Siong
1
, Nor Hidayati Abdul Aziz
1
1
Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Multimedia University, 75450 Melaka, Malaysia.
2
Faculty of Information & Communication Technology, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, 76100 Melaka, Malaysia.
Abstract
Recognition of sleep patterns and posture has sparked interest in various clinical applications. Sleep
postures can be monitored autonomously and constantly to provide useful information for decreasing
health risks. Existing systems mostly use images to train the model to learn based on many sensors.
For example, a camera, pressure sensor, and electrocardiogram. In this study, a model (named as
SleepCon) was designed using deep learning, which will have the capability to train with any
threshold image obtained from any sensor. This paper presented a system where data was obtained
from a camera installed on the top of a mattress. The camera located the movement of the body
posture on the mattress while the subject was lying down on the mattress. In doing so, CNN and
other pre-processed steps took place to collect data and then analyze the data to recognize different
sleep postures. This model was stored for use in real-time applications. The system can recognize
the three major postures, i.e., left, right, and supine. A real-time application is also developed and
operates the stored SleepCon model through an accompanying desktop application for detecting the
posture live. The accuracy of classification was greater than 90%, while the actual application
accuracy was 100% after carrying out the experiment on the SleepCon model.
Keywords:
Sleeping Posture Recognition;
Convolutional Neural Network (CNN);
Recognition Model;
Classification.
Article History:
Received: 07 January 2022
Revised: 27 July 2022
Accepted: 04 September 2022
Available online: 12 October 2022
1- Introduction
Sleep is one of the most important elements in human life. Humans spend one-third (30%) of their life sleeping.
Having a good sleep is very important for a better human life. Lack of quality sleep can have a very bad impact on human
life. There are many diseases that are attributed to a lack of quality sleep and are termed sleep-related disorders. Some
examples of sleep-related disorders are Sleep Apnea, Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS), and Periodic Limb Movements
(PLMs). Apnea is a sleep disorder that is related to the respiratory system. The estimated prevalence of sleep apnea in
the general population ranges from 6% to 17%, being as high as 49% in elderly people [1].
In maintaining good physical health and survival, a natural activity called "sleep" plays a significant role. Therefore,
sleep quality affects human health and the standard of living. Meanwhile, sleep posture is associated with sleep quality
[2]. Poor cervical posture can lead to cervical pain and stiffness, headaches, and scapular pain during sleep. In general,
humans may sleep in a supine, side-lying, prone, or upright posture. Transitions of postures may happen during sleep.
Anecdotally, supine sleep posture is usually recommended to prevent cervical symptoms with the use of the appropriate
pillow. However, sleep apnea patients are advised to avoid supine sleep posture. The cervical and thoracic portions of
*
CONTACT: jesmeen.online@gmail.com; t.bhuvaneswari@mmu.edu.my
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-01-04
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee ESJ, Italy. This is an open access article under the terms and conditions of the Creative
Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).