A System for the Quantification of Fluid Intake - A Study on the Design of an Innovative Method to Improve Oral Hydration in Older Adults.

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Older adults are often poorly hydrated and therefore at higher risk of experiencing dehydration due to a diminished thirst sensation and a decrease in body water content, which naturally occurs with ageing [1][2]. In settings such as hospitals and care homes it has been observed that in the UK, 20% of the patients are dehydrated [3], due to the unreliability of the current standardised methods to assess hydration. Even if dehydration does not necessarily lead to death, it can lead to serious medical consequences such as delirium, infection of urinary tracts and cardiovascular symptoms [4]. Hence the concrete need to develop a tool which can improve monitoring and assessment of hydration in older adults. The scope of this project is to develop a software that will be able to accurately quantify the daily fluid intake of older adults. To accomplish this, the idea is to use a combination of sensors such as EMGs, microphones and accelerometers to detect signals originated from swallowing activities. The main objectives are:I. To determine the optimal anatomical position for the sensors in order to maximise the discriminative features of the recorded signals. II. To develop methods for accurate identification of bolus type and quantification of the volume of the fluid being swallowed.III. To test the developed methods in an asynchronous mode.IV. To assess user acceptance of a device which can keep track of fluid intake.