It has been shown that computerized sound frequency analysis can be used todistinguish between different snoring sites. The aim of this study was to investigate whether aportable recording method using audiotapes and digital minidisc formats could produce waveformssimilar to a computer recording.

The snores of 12 subjects in their natural sleep were recorded onto audiotape, minidisc and directly onto a computer. For each snorer and recording method 30 snore samples were analysed and their power ratio was calculated indicating the relative amount of sound below and above a set frequency. It was found that the power ratios from audiotape recordings were significantly different to those from computer recordings for all snoring sites (p = 0.0007), whereasthere was no significant difference between minidisc and computer recordings (p = 0.41).

These results indicate that it would be possible to base a portable snore analysis system for site determination on minidisc, but not on audiotape recordings.