Development of a portable system for swallowing evaluation

在吞咽的口腔阶段，舌头起着主要的作用，舌头的适当表现是形成丸剂并将其转移到咽部的必要条件。在本研究中，我们开发了一种安全方便的系统，用于客观评估吞咽时舌头运动和喉部抬高的协调性。该设备通过沿腭中线放置的黄铜带上相距20毫米的两个应变计压力传感器记录舌压力。用压电加速度传感器记录喉部振动。前后换能器的压力开始和喉振动的第一个尖峰之间的时间差与每个换能器的舌压一起测量。30名健康受试者被要求吞下10毫升水。前换能器的压力发生比后压力早190±101 ms （T1）。前压发生后437±162 ms出现喉部振动。对于26名知情同意的志愿者，他们也用荧光显像检查吞咽情况。x线显像评价T1与口腔过渡时间有相关性（rs = 0.494, P = 0.0134）。综上所述，即使数据有限，该设备也可以通过舌压的新参数成功且轻松地揭示吞咽功能的某些方面。

At the oral stage of swallowing, the tongue plays a major role and proper tongue performance is necessary to form the bolus and transfer it to the pharynx. For the present study we developed a system for safe and handy objective estimation of tongue motion and coordination with laryngeal elevation at swallowing.The device records tongue pressure by means of two strain gauge pressure transducers aligned 20 mm apart on a brass strap placed along the palatal midline. Laryngeal vibration is recorded with piezo-electric acceleration transducers. Time differences between pressure onset at the anterior and posterior transducers and the first spike from laryngeal vibration are measured together with tongue pressure at each transducer.Thirty healthy subjects were asked to swallow 10 ml of water. Pressure onset at the anterior transducer preceded posterior pressure by 190 ± 101 ms (T1). Laryngeal vibration occurred 437 ± 162 ms after the onset of anterior pressure. For 26 volunteers who gave their informed consent, swallowing was also examined with videofluorography. There was a correlation between T1 and oral transition time evaluated with videofluorography (r_s = 0.494, P = 0.0134).In conclusion, even the data is limited, the device successfully and easily revealed certain aspects of swallowing function with new parameters for tongue pressure.