Development of a Portable Non-Invasive Swallowing and Respiration Assessment Device †

Sensors

Wann-Yun Shieh¹  Chin-Man Wang²  Chia-Shuo Chang¹ 

[1] Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Chang Gung University, No. 259, Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan 333, Taiwan; E-Mail:;Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan; E-Mail:

关键词: swallowing;    respiration;    dysphagia;    thyroid cartilage motion;    non-invasive detection;    FSR;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s150612428

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Dysphagia is a condition that happens when a person cannot smoothly swallow food from the mouth to the stomach. It causes malnourishment in patients, or can even cause death due to aspiration pneumonia. Recently, more and more researchers have focused their attention on the importance of swallowing and respiration coordination, and the use of non-invasive assessment systems has become a hot research trend. In this study, we aimed to integrate the timing and pattern monitoring of respiration and swallowing by using a portable and non-invasive approach which can be applied at the bedside in hospitals or institutions, or in a home environment. In this approach, we use a force sensing resistor (FSR) to detect the motions of the thyroid cartilage in the pharyngeal phase. We also use the surface electromyography (sEMG) to detect the contraction of the submental muscle in the oral phase, and a nasal cannula to detect nasal airflow for respiration monitoring during the swallowing process. All signals are received and processed for swallowing event recognition. A total of 19 volunteers participated in the testing and over 57 measurements were made. The results show that the proposed approach can effectively distinguish the swallowing function in people of different ages and genders.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.