Abstract
Dysphagia refers to difficulty in swallowing often associated with syndromic disorders. In dysphagic patients’ rehabilitation, tongue motility is usually treated and monitored via simple exercises, in which the tongue is pushed against a depressor held by the speech therapist in different directions. In this study, we developed and tested a simple pressure/force sensor device, named “Tonic Tongue (ToTo)”, intended to support training and monitoring tasks for the rehabilitation of tongue musculature. It consists of a metallic frame holding a ball bearing support equipped with a sterile disposable depressor, whose angular displacements are counterbalanced by extensional springs. The conversion from angular displacement to force is managed using a simple mechanical model of ToTo operation. Since the force exerted by the tongue in various directions can be estimated, quantitative assessment of the outcome of a given training program is possible. A first prototype of ToTo was tested on 26 healthy adults, who were trained for one month. After the treatment, we observed a statistically significant improvement with a force up to 2.2 N (median value) in all tested directions of pushing, except in the downward direction, in which the improvement was slightly higher than 5 N (median value). ToTo promises to be an innovative and reliable device that can be used for the rehabilitation of dysphagic patients. Moreover, since it is a self-standing device, it could be used as a point-of-care solution for in-home rehabilitation management of dysphasia.
Highlights
Swallowing is defined as the voluntary physiologic process that transports ingested material and saliva from the mouth to the stomach
Tonic Tongue (ToTo) is composed of twoisspecular steel in each of which in each of which a ball bearing is forced through an external ring; a roller is fixed into the internal ring, a ball bearing is forced through an external ring; a roller is fixed into the internal ring, free to rotate free to rotate about the central axis; a sterile disposable tongue depressor can be inserted in the central about the central axis; a sterile disposable tongue depressor can be inserted in the central axis
We have presented a novel pressure/force sensor device, named ToTo, which holds promise for advancing the rehabilitation of tongue musculature in dysphagic patients
Summary
Swallowing is defined as the voluntary physiologic process that transports ingested material and saliva from the mouth to the stomach. Proposed a sensorized layertoto evaluate be implanted on thein palate, to measure pressure particular, they showed that age affects tongue performance, men showing a faster during swallowing. Interesting, this is muscular an invasive method that with dysphagic patients can find strength reduction rate than women [15,16,17]. Abilex* (TMI Medical Distribution Inc., London, ON, Canada) is a on the palate, to measure tongue pressure during swallowing Interesting, this is an invasive method that dysphagic patients can find difficult to accept [18]. ToTo feasibility and effectiveness with healthy in results pilot study, ToTo feasibility and effectiveness with healthy subjects, subjects, in preparation preparation forexperimental a future experimental studywith planned with dysphagic for a future study planned dysphagic patients. patients
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