Abstract
This study developed a novel chair-side tongue pressure (TP) measuring instrument with a disposable positioning mouthpiece controlled using a smartphone application (APP), denoted as the TP wireless application (TPWA). The mouthpiece was designed with a palate-shaped air balloon containing a tongue contact bump and a plastic bite positioning tube. Fatigue load testing was performed to evaluate mouthpiece durability by applying 700 displacement cycles (50 times a day for one week during training, with twice the safety factor) on the air balloon. The main component used in developing this instrument was a silicon pressure sensor equipped with wireless Bluetooth connection. Young (52 adults; mean age = 20.23 ± 2.17) and elderly (40 adults; mean age = 72.60 ± 7.03) individuals participated in the test with the new instrument, with the results compared to those of a commercial device. The TPWA mouthpiece fatigue test showed that mean response pressures were maintained at 12 kPa. No significant (p > 0.05) differences were found during testing repetitions 0–10 and 701–710. There were no significant differences in the maximum TP values presented between the test sequences using different instruments for young and elderly participants. The TPWA results showed that TP values gradually decreased with increasing age (40.77 kPa for young and 16.55 kPa for elderly participants). The maximum TP for males (43.51 kPa) was significantly larger than that for females (35.14 kPa) in the young group, but an opposite trend was seen in the elderly group (12.97 for males and 17.59 for females). Thus, this study developed a novel chair-side TP measurement instrument with Bluetooth wireless mobile application control. A durable positioning oral mouthpiece was approved for measuring pressure sufficiently, reliably, and precisely for TP screening.
Highlights
The tongue plays a critical role in food consumption
There was no significant difference in the data presented between the testing orders (Table 2)
The TP wireless application (TPWA) instrument we developed was updated to allow the user to directly operate it chair-side through a mobile phone with a wireless Bluetooth connection and APP program control based on the bulb pressure sensors
Summary
Food is controlled and mixed with saliva to form a bolus by the tongue. The tongue moves the bolus into the pharynx and initiates the swallowing response. Tongue function is an important index for many age-related degenerative condition. Tongue strength is an important assessment reference indicator for swallowing function decline; dysphagia; sarcopenia; physical function; and pathophysiologic diagnosis, follow-up, and rehabilitation of nervous system and brain diseases that cause dysphagia [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Maximum TP measurement is useful and important for evaluating tongue weakness for dysphagia in the oral stage or the oral preparation stage [6]. Liquids or solid food may enter the airway, triggering dysphagia complications such as choking, aspiration, pneumonia, malnutrition, and dehydration [2,13]
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