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UA professor helps people breathe a little easier

Michael Vidad wishes he could fall asleep like most people, confident that his body will keep breathing until he wakes up.

But the UA engineering sophomore is not so lucky. Vidad has muscular dystrophy, a group of genetic diseases marked by progressive weakness and degeneration of the skeletal muscles, which control movement.

Each night, Vidad uses a ventilator - a machine that breathes for him. Without it, his body would be so relaxed that he would stop breathing while he slept.

But University of Arizona speech and hearing sciences professor Jeannette Hoit and Harvard respiratory physiologist Robert Banzett have developed a way for people who require ventilators - like Vidad - to increase air intake and talk longer without interruption.

In a study funded by the National Institutes of Health, Hoit and Banzett found that reducing the rate at which air is delivered by the ventilator can increase air intake in a single breath.

Vidad compared the increase in air intake to a person's yawn.

"When someone yawns it wakes them up. They feel more refreshed," he said. "I don't get that rush of air very often."

Vidad said he inhales about 13 percent of what a normal 19-year-old would breathe.

"The doctors tell me that in the next five to 15 years I will have to get a tracheotomy," Vidad said.

Vidad will have to get the procedure when his muscles degenerate to the point where he will always need a ventilator to help him breathe.

The tracheotomy procedure involves putting a positive pressure ventilator - a device which will breathe for Vidad full-time - into his neck.

"My muscles will be so weak that I will not be able to breathe on my own," he said.

By that time, Vidad's ability to talk will be severely restricted, as well - a fact which may be helped by the study's conclusions.

The researchers also found that increasing the pressure of the air distributed by the ventilator to the recipient can help them talk longer without having to take a breath.

"This is a way to keep the vocal chords moving, which allows people to continue talking longer," Hoit said.

These simple adjustments will allow a person to talk for longer periods of time without having to pause to inhale more air, Hoit added.

Hoit and Banzett have made these adjustments on 15 people's ventilators so far.

"We have seen improvement in all people tested," Hoit said.

According to Hoit, there is no cost for the actual adjustment, though doctor's fees may be involved.

"Our first priority is making sure the patient's ability to breathe is not affected by the adjustments," she added.

Vidad said he believes this procedure will boost the confidence of people on ventilators, as well as lower their frustration associated with limited speaking abilities.

Hoit was quick to point out that one unusual benefit of the procedure is that patients will now be able to use speech recognition software on their computer. In the past, the software had difficulty understanding the patients because of multiple pauses in sentences.