Pulse oximeter bench tests under different simulated skin tones.

ABSTRACT: Pulse oximeters' (POs) varying performance based on skin tones has been highly publicised. Compared to arterial blood gas analysis, POs tend to overestimate oxygen saturation (SpO₂) values for people with darker skin (occult hypoxemia). The objective is to develop a test bench for assessing commercial home and hospital-based POs in controlled laboratory conditions. A laboratory simulator was used to mimic different SpO₂ values (~ 70 to 100%). Different neutral density and synthetic melanin filters were used to reproduce low signal and varying melanin attenuation levels. Six devices consisting of commercial home (Biolight, N = 13; ChoiceMMed, N = 18; MedLinket, N = 9) and hospital-based (Masimo Radical 7 with Neo L, N = 1; GE B450 Masimo SET with LNCS Neo L, N = 1; Non

SUBMITTER: Swamy SKN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12204950 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature