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In polysomnography, an oronasal thermal airflow sensor and respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) belts at thorax and abdomen are used to detect central sleep apnoea. These sensors are uncomfortable to wear, can disturb the patient’s sleep, and data quality can be significantly di-minished if a sensor slips off the patient. Contactless meas-urements would be a desirable alternative. We utilized a 3D time-of-flight sensor to monitor respiratory-related chest movements to decipher epochs of normal breathing and ap-noea in ten adult patients with a total of 467 apnoea events. Time-synchronized comparisons of 3D measurements of chest movements due to respiration to polysomnography signals from rip belts and nasal airflow proved that the 3D sensor provided largely equivalent results. This new tech-nique could support the diagnosis of central sleep apnoea and Cheyne-Stokes respiration.