US 12,109,358 B2
System and method for stimulating airways
David Edward White, Aukland (NZ); and Thomas George McLeod, Aukland (NZ)
Assigned to AUT VENTURES LIMITED, Auckland (NZ)
Appl. No. 17/905,071
Filed by AUT VENTURES LIMITED, Aukland (NZ)
PCT Filed Feb. 26, 2021, PCT No. PCT/NZ2021/050029
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 26, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/173014, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 2, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 762123 (NZ), filed on Feb. 26, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0138935 A1, May 4, 2023
Int. Cl. A61M 16/06 (2006.01); A61M 16/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61M 16/0006 (2014.02) [A61M 16/0666 (2013.01)] 28 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of stimulating nasal airways of a mammal wherein the mammal has two nares of a mammal, and a first naris and a second naris, the method comprising:
providing a fluid connection for each of the first and second naris for a nasal airstream to enter each of the first and second naris of the mammal;
using an occluding device to cyclically occlude a nasal air stream within each fluid connection to cause pressure oscillations, said cyclic occlusion at a frequency rate between 50 Hz to 650 Hz to deliver pressure oscillations into the air stream entering the respective first or second naris, thereby simulating humming, which stimulates discharge of Nitric Oxide (NO) from a paranasal sinus connected to the nasal airway of the respective first or second naris into the nasal airway of the respective first or second naris so as to improve nasal airflow by reducing congestion of the respective first or second naris,
wherein during a first mode cyclically occluding the nasal air stream comprises cyclically occluding only the nasal air stream of the first naris,
wherein during a second mode cyclically occluding the nasal air stream comprises cyclically occluding only the nasal air stream of the second naris, and
wherein change between the first mode and the second mode is controlled by a controller.