myAir Score: 70 of the 100 Points Are Hours

Your myAir score is built almost entirely from how long you wore the mask. ResMed splits the 100 points four ways: 70 for usage hours, 20 for mask seal, 5 for events per hour, and 5 for mask on/off events. That means 90 of the 100 points describe whether you kept the mask on and sealed, and only 5 points respond to your AHI, the number that tracks how many breathing events you had. A high score is mostly a good attendance record.

The four components, in ResMed's own numbers

ResMed publishes the four-way split in its myAir product brief, and its consumer help pages repeat the per-category figures.

Component	Maximum points	What it measures
Usage hours	70	How many hours you used the device
Mask seal	20	Amount of leak, and your mask type
Events per hour	5	Your apnea-hypopnea index (AHI)
Mask on/off events	5	How many times you removed the mask

Usage hours. Points accrue by the hour and minute. ResMed's own example: one hour of therapy earns 10 points, and 2.3 hours (2 hours and 18 minutes) earns 23 points. The scale continues to a maximum of 70.

Mask seal. The 20 points come in bands rather than on a sliding scale. Minimal leak takes the full 20, a moderate leak lands somewhere in the 10 to 15 range, and a higher leak scores 10 or below. ResMed says the band depends on the amount of leak and your mask type, without publishing how the two combine.

Events per hour. Minimal events earn 4 to 5 points. That is the entire contribution your AHI makes to the score.

Mask on/off events. Everyone takes the mask off at least once, so one or two removals still earns the full 5 points. The count only costs you points when it climbs.

What this means in practice

Do the arithmetic and the shape of the score becomes obvious.

Wear the mask for seven hours with a good seal and you have already banked 90 points before your AHI is considered at all. ResMed publishes the maximum for each category but never says what a bad night scores, so the careful way to put it is as a ceiling on the damage: the worst AHI you can have costs you at most 5 points. Add the 5 points for keeping the mask on and a full, well-sealed night lands at 95 or better regardless of your events.

So a score in the 90s is compatible with an AHI that your clinician would want to talk about. The score is not lying to you. It was never designed to answer that question. It is a therapy engagement score, and engagement is genuinely the thing most likely to go wrong in the first months of CPAP, which is a reasonable thing for ResMed to have optimized for.

The reverse also happens and upsets people more. Your AHI is low, your mask never leaked, and the score still reads 70 because you managed four hours rather than a full night. Run the same arithmetic: four hours is 40 usage points, so even a flawless four hours cannot pass 70. The score fell on the hours, not on your leak or your events. 70 percent of it is a clock. Usage also stops paying at seven hours, where the 70 points max out, so the eighth hour earns nothing.

What the score does not include

The score has no input from most of what your machine recorded overnight:

Which events you had. Obstructive, central, and hypopnea all collapse into one AHI figure, and that figure moves 5 points. An AHI made mostly of central apneas is a different conversation from one made of obstructive events, and the score cannot express the difference. See central versus obstructive apnea.
When events happened. Twelve events clustered in one 20-minute stretch and twelve spread evenly across the night produce the same AHI.
Your pressure. What the machine actually delivered, and whether it spent the night at the top of its range, is absent.
Your leak pattern. Mask seal becomes one band, so a single large leak and a night of steady minor leak can land in the same bucket.
Flow limitation, respiratory rate, and tidal volume. Recorded by the machine, absent from the score.

None of that is hidden from you. It is on the SD card in your machine. Beyond myAir walks through what the card holds, the AirSense 11 and AirSense 10 pages cover what those machines record, and CPAP Clarity reads the card in your browser without uploading anything, which is one way to see the event breakdown and the timeline the score compresses into 5 points.

So what is a good myAir score?

ResMed does not publish a clinical threshold, and neither will we, because the score is not a clinical measure. What can be said honestly is narrower and more useful.

If your score is low, look first at your hours. That is where 70 of the points live, so that is almost always the explanation, and the compliance calculator will tell you where your hours actually stand. If your score is high, it tells you that you are wearing the machine and it is sealing, which is real and worth something. It does not tell you your AHI is where your clinician wants it.

For that, read the AHI itself rather than the score. An AHI under 5 is the range the AASM associates with well-controlled CPAP, and your machine reports its own AHI every night independent of the 5 points it contributes here. If yours sits above that and stays there, that is a conversation with your prescriber, whatever the score says.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the myAir score calculated?

It is 100 points split four ways: 70 points for usage hours, 20 points for mask seal, 5 points for events per hour, and 5 points for mask on/off events. Usage alone is 70 percent of the score.

Can I get a high myAir score with a high AHI?

Yes. Events per hour is worth at most 5 of the 100 points, so your AHI can cost you no more than 5. A full night with a good seal and one or two mask removals reaches 95 points before AHI is counted at all.

Why did my myAir score drop when I slept well?

Almost always because you used the machine for fewer hours. Usage carries 70 of the 100 points, so a shorter night lowers the score even when your leak and AHI were good.

How many points do I lose for taking my mask off?

Mask on/off events are worth 5 points in total. ResMed notes that everyone removes the mask at least once, so one or two removals still earns the full 5.

Does the myAir score show whether my therapy is working?

Not directly. It is weighted toward engagement, with 90 of its 100 points reflecting how long you wore the mask and how well it sealed. To see how many events you had and what kind, read your AHI and your event breakdown rather than the score.

Primary Sources

ResMed, myAir: empowering patients through therapy self-management (opens in new tab) (document 1018645/2, 2017-03). The only source that states all four weights together: usage hours 70, mask leak 20, events per hour 5, mask on/off events 5.
ResMed, "myAir tips: understanding your myAir score" (opens in new tab). The usage examples (10 points at one hour, 23 at 2.3 hours, maximum 70), the three leak bands, and events per hour at 4 to 5 points.
ResMed Australia, "How does myAir calculate my score?" (opens in new tab). Confirms the same figures independently, and is the source for the 5-point maximum on mask on/off.
Kushida CA, Chediak A, Berry RB, et al. Clinical Guidelines for the Manual Titration of Positive Airway Pressure in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea. J Clin Sleep Med. 2008;4(2):157-171. PubMed 18468315 (opens in new tab). The AASM guideline behind the under-5 figure.