A method for characterizing inhalation noise within a pressurized air delivery system, the method including the steps of: generating an inhalation noise model (912, 1012) based on inhalation noise; receiving an input signal (802) that includes inhalation noise comprising at least one inhalation noise burst; comparing (810) the input signal to the noise model to obtain a similarity measure; comparing the similarity measure to at least one threshold (832, 834) to detect the at least one inhalation noise burst; and characterizing (1354, 1356) the at least one detected inhalation noise burst.