Snore Index from Encore

Does anyone understand what the "Snore Index" on the Encore results mean? What does it represent?

Does it mean:
1. The total number of snores recorded during the recording period, i.e. that particular night?
2. Since it is an "index' does it mean an "average per hour" or does it represent something else?
3. Are there events *other* than snores that are recorded with a tic mark on the scale? Interested in this one the most.

Last night I used an Activa Mask for the first time. The indices from Encore are as follows:
OA: 7.3
H: 2.8
S: 133.7
Large leak: 0
Average leak: 28.53

The average leak does not say if it is minutes or percent of night as it would be given in "Large Leak".

Any info you can give to clarify this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks, Andy - who misses Liam

Andy,
The Snore Index is average number of snores/hour. A while back I did some simple experiments on Respironics definition of a snore and posted the results:
Snore Experiments

You were snoring on average 134 times each our. See my results for whether other things might trigger a snore. I found that running a ruler over the hose generated snores, somebody else reported a cat sitting on the hose and purring generated "snores."

The leak average is also the average mask leakage (in liters/min.), averaged over the whole night. The value includes the leakage through the exhaust port, so your figure of 28.5 is perfectly fine.

derek

Went back and read Derek's earlier thread on snoring and his experiments. I have also wondered about the snore index because mine is basically a solid line of tick marks with EVENLY spaced breaks. So I also did a little experiment and ran a tape recorder one night. I had very few actual snores - most of the sounds I make are wheezes due to asthma - trust me, wheezing can be very audible. So I decided the Remstar Auto was picking up my wheezing - there was no triggering snore(as far I could tell) that raised the pressure level. Then I decided that my asthma really has not been that bad lately but I do use supplemental oxygen along with cpap. So I got to wondering if the sound from the oxygen concentrator could be causing the almost solid snore ticks. For those who are unaware, an oxygen concentrator makes enough noise to make sleeping with a jackhammer easier. My concentrator is on a 25 foot hose, located in another room, behind closed doors - however, it causes a real vibration and a loud hissing sound and a squeaky noise and a loud thump with each cycle. So, I did my own little experiment, first half of the night with oxygen, second half without - snore index during first half was solid tick marks, second half had only an occasional tick mark.
My auto was originally set from 8 - 11, after endless complaining it was reset to 5 - 12. It has recently been reset to 5.5 - 12.5 and will soon be reset to 6 - 13. I personally do not think raising the lower limit will eliminate the snore index marks but I am willing to be a lab rat and try it out. But I am also wondering if it is not only ambient noise that may be interpreted as a snore but could it also be caused by vibration. Could something as simple as having the hose pulling under the blankets cause a snore tick. And how do we know for sure that the snore index does not somehow interplay into the secret DaVinci Code algorithm to alter pressure settings?

I love reading Derek's experiments - they always get me thinking!!

Good job Derek - keeps us all on our toes.