CAREER: Functional Electrical Stimulation to Aid Phonation in the Presence of Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis

莱昂内萨1055315拟议职业计划的目标是在生物工程的多学科领域吸引和教育本科生和研究生，特别关注使用功能性电刺激理解和控制肌肉行为。该计划包括理论分析、实验研究和课程开发。拟议的研究部分旨在开发和验证一个框架，该框架将有助于实现用于人类发声目的的高效功能性电刺激(FES)控制器。这一框架将能够控制瘫痪的声带，提高受单侧声带瘫痪影响的患者有效沟通的能力。从长远来看，皮？S的计划是显著提高单侧和双侧声带麻痹患者的生活质量。FES的原理是使用表面或可植入的电极在完整的运动神经元上产生电流脉冲，从而诱导这些肌肉的收缩和相应的运动。一些挑战阻碍了闭环功能电刺激在研究实验室之外的应用，例如肌肉的高度非线性和时变特性。此外，当疲劳发生时，受刺激的肌肉会发生变化，每个肌肉模型都不同。更具挑战性的是，刺激和肌肉收缩之间存在显著的延迟，增加了电刺激系统中的处理和传输延迟。PI建议使用基于输出的参考控制方法来解决闭环系统的FES问题。与语音驱动的数据采集和用于刺激目的的新型电极阵列合作开发的稳健控制策略将为指导针对特定损伤的康复策略提供框架。通过与维克森林康复临床医生的合作，PI将把这项建议中开发的技术应用于特定的患者群体，作为概念的证明。该活动将扩展当前的非线性控制技术，如反推、极值搜索、卡尔曼滤波和模型参考控制，以考虑时滞、执行器幅度和速率饱和限制以及部分和噪声测量，从而显著增加这些算法的实用适用性。实时实施和FES设备易于设置和治疗师和患者简单使用的要求为控制结构增加了额外的限制，该结构需要健壮但不太复杂。这种努力的智力价值还在于有机会使用这些工具来促进对肌肉动态行为的理解，并研究使用反馈控制技术控制这种行为的可能性。拟议的活动将探索创造性、原创性和潜在的变革性概念，通过考虑用于发声目的的主动、微创、闭环控制系统。呼吸和吞咽对于声带麻痹患者来说已经得到了很大的关注，但发声仍然被认为是一个悬而未决的问题，因为喉部的复杂性，以及由于喉部深度在颈部，在没有侵入性手术的情况下刺激相关肌肉的困难。建议开发一种稳健的控制策略，与语音驱动的数据采集和用于刺激目的的新型电极阵列相结合，将为这些问题提供解决方案。这项拟议的研究为社会提供了许多潜在的好处，包括可能改善瘫痪患者以及其他神经肌肉残疾患者的生活质量，包括创伤性脑损伤、多发性硬化症、脑瘫和帕金森-S病。与肌肉驱动的运动模拟合作制定稳健的控制策略将为指导针对特定损伤的康复策略提供一个框架。通过未来与康复研究人员和临床医生的潜在合作，PI计划将本提案中开发的技术应用于特定的患者群体。拟议的活动将促进对肌肉动力学的发现和了解，同时通过开发新课程以及针对青年和教师的几个夏令营和讲习班来促进教学、培训和学习。通过专门为女学生举办夏令营以及为残疾学生组织一个新的夏令营，保障了代表人数不足的群体的参与。拟议的努力将通过与维克森林大学的医学界建立合作伙伴关系来加强研究的基础设施。从教育的角度来看，K12教师的伙伴关系和培训，以及最先进的教学技术(如通用教学设计)的实施，将提高国际学生协会让年轻学生和少数族裔接触生物工程领域和其他几项活动的能力。通过拟议的努力所取得的成果将通过会议和期刊论文等标准渠道传播，但也将通过专门的网站，如Connexion和国家科学数字图书馆提供。

Leonessa1055315The objective of the proposed CAREER program is to engage and educate undergraduate and graduatestudents in the multidisciplinary field of bioengineering with particular focus on the understanding and control of muscle behavior using functional electrical stimulation. The proposed plan includes theoretical analysis, experimental investigation, and course development. The proposed research component aims to develop and validate a framework that will help to implement an efficient Functional electrical stimulation (FES) controller for human vocalization purposes. This framework will enable control of paralyzed vocal folds improving the ability of patients affected by unilateral vocal fold paralysis to communicate effectively. In a longer term, the PI?s plan is to considerably improve the quality of life of patients with unilateral and bilateral vocal fold paralysis. The principle of FES is to use surface or implantable electrodes to generate pulses of current in intact motor neurons, thereby inducing contraction of these muscles and corresponding movement. Several challenges hinder the application of closed-loop FES outside of research labs, such as the highly nonlinear and time-varying characteristics of muscles. Furthermore, a stimulated muscle changes when fatigue occurs and individual muscle models are different. Even more challenging is the fact that there is a significant delay between stimulation and muscle contraction, adding to the processing and transmission delays in the electrical stimulation system. The PI proposes to address the closed-loop FES problem using an Output-Based Reference Control approach. The development of a robust control strategy in cooperation with voice-driven data acquisition and a novel electrode array for stimulation purposes will provide a framework for guiding rehabilitation strategies for specific impairments. Through the collaboration with rehabilitation clinicians at Wake Forest, the PI will apply the techniques developed in this proposal to specific patient populations as a proof ofconcept.Intellectual Merit. The proposed activity will extend current nonlinear control techniques, such as backstepping, extremum seeking, Kalman filtering, and model reference control, to account for time delays, actuator amplitude and rate saturation limitations, and partial and noisy measurements, thereby substantially increasing the practical applicability of such algorithms. The real-time implementation and the requirements that the FES equipment is easy to setup and simple to use by therapists and patients add additional constraints to the control structure, which needs to be robust yet not overly complicated. The intellectual merit of this effort also lies in the opportunity to use these tools to advance understanding of the dynamic behavior of muscles and to investigate the possibility of controlling this behavior using feedback control techniques. The proposed activity will explore creative, original, and potentially transformative concepts by considering an active, minimally invasive, closed loop control system for vocalization purposes. Breathing and swallowing have received a lot of attention for patients with vocal fold paralysis, but vocalization is still considered an open problem with unresolved issued due to the complexity of the larynx and the difficulties in stimulating the relevant muscles, without invasive surgeries, given their depth in the neck. The proposed development of a robust control strategy in cooperation with voice-driven data acquisition and a novel electrode array for stimulation purposes will provide a solution to these issues.Broader Impact. The proposed research offers many potential benefits to society, including the possibility of improving the quality of life for patients with paralysis, as well as individuals with other neuromuscular disability including traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and Parkinson?s disease. Development of a robust control strategy in cooperation with muscle-driven simulations of movement will provide a framework for guiding rehabilitation strategies for specific impairments. Through potential future collaborations with rehabilitation researchers and clinicians, the PI plans to apply the techniques developed in this proposal to specific patient populations. The proposed activity will advance discovery and understanding of muscle dynamics while promoting teaching, training, and learning through the development of new courses as well as several camps and workshops targeting both youths and teachers. The participation of underrepresented groups is guaranteed by specifically addressing summer camps for female students as well as organizing a new summer camp dedicated to students with disabilities. The proposed effort will enhance the infrastructure for research by establishing partnerships with the medical community at Wake Forest University. From an educational point of view, the partnership and training of K12 teachers and implementation of state of the art teaching techniques (such the Universal Design for Instruction) will enhance the PI's ability to expose younger students and minorities to the field of bioengineering and several other activities. The results obtained through the proposed effort will be disseminated through the standard channels, such as conference and journal papers, but will also be made available using dedicated websites such as Connexions and the National Science Digital Library.