Home Sleep Study

Home sleep testing is now available as an alternative to a sleep laboratory visit. Portable monitoring equipment is used to assess your sleep in the comfort of your own bed. Whereas sleep laboratory studies using a minimum of seven channels are classified as a Level 1 study, home studies are classified as Level 2, 3 and 4 depending on the number of channels recorded.

A Level 2 home study records a minimum of seven channels of data and measures actual sleep time, which is the same as a full sleep study conducted in a laboratory yet there is no sleep technologist present for a home study.

Most home studies are Level 3 HSAT (Home Sleep Apnea Studies) that usually record four to seven channels and do not measure sleep because brain wave and eye movement data are not included as they are for a Level 1 or Level 2 sleep study. A Level 4 home study records only one or two channels that typically includes oximetry. Algorithms are used to guesstimate the amount of sleep for studies that do not actually measure sleep and to calculate the number of apneic events per hour of sleep that is required for diagnosis of the sleep apnea syndrome. Home sleep testing is not recommended if you have serious health conditions such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)or Congestive Heart Failure (CHF).