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

老年人经常缺水，因此更容易脱水，因为口渴感减弱，身体水分含量减少，这是随着年龄的增长而自然发生的。在医院和疗养院等环境中，据观察，在英国，由于目前评估水合作用的标准化方法不可靠，20%的病人脱水。即使脱水不一定会导致死亡，它也会导致严重的医疗后果，如谵妄、尿路感染和心血管症状。因此，具体需要开发一种工具，可以改善监测和评估老年人的水合作用。该项目的范围是开发一种能够准确量化老年人每日液体摄入量的软件。为了实现这一目标，他们的想法是结合使用诸如肌电图、麦克风和加速度计等传感器来检测吞咽活动产生的信号。主要目标是：1。确定传感器的最佳解剖位置，以最大限度地提高记录信号的鉴别特征。2。二、建立准确鉴别丸剂种类和定量所吞液体体积的方法。在异步模式下测试所开发的方法。评估使用者对一种能追踪液体摄取的装置的接受程度。

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.