Problem to be solved: to provide an apparatus and method capable of discriminating the state of the organism by measuring the respiration pattern and the respiration rate of the biological animal having real-time responsiveness to the expiration of the biological animal.A breath detection sensor capable of detecting the expiration of a subject in real time, a respiratory rate measuring section for counting the detected expiration, measuring the respiration rate of a subject, and measuring the respiratory rate at rest of the subject in advance, and storing the state of the subject in comparison with the breathing rate at rest A condition discriminating section is provided. The breath detection sensor comprises a thin film having a fine particle coated with an insulating film coated with an insulating film on the insulating substrate, and measures the electrical conductivity of the thin film.The insulating film coated on the nanoparticle surface is a porous film. A thin film having a fine array of nanoparticles functions as a humidity sensitive film of a resistance change type humidity sensor.Diagram【課題】生体動物の呼気に対してリアルタイムな応答性を有し、生体動物の呼吸パターンや呼吸数の計測を行え、生体状態を判別し得る装置および方法を提供する。【解決手段】被験体の呼気をリアルタイムに検知し得る呼気検知センサと、検知された呼気をカウントし、被験体の呼吸数を計測する呼吸数計測部と、被験体の安静時の呼吸数を予め計測して記憶し、安静時の呼吸数と比較して被験体の状態変化を判別する状態判別部を備える。呼気検知センサは、粒子表面が絶縁膜で被覆されたナノ粒子を緻密に配列させた薄膜が絶縁性基材に積層され、薄膜の電気伝導特性を測定する。ナノ粒子表面に被覆する絶縁膜は多孔質でない膜である。ナノ粒子を緻密に配列させた薄膜が、抵抗変化型湿度センサの感湿膜として機能する。【選択図】図3
