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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Non-Nutritive Suck Parameters Measurements Using a Custom Pressure Transducer System
Published on: April 19, 2024
Differentiating effortful and noneffortful swallowing with a neck force transducer: implications for the development
Véronique L Coulas1, Rebecca C Smith, Syed S Qadri
1Orofacial Neuroscience Laboratory, The School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Elborn College, The University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract:
This study sought to determine whether effortful saliva swallows could be differentiated from habitual, noneffortful saliva swallows on the basis of swallow-related changes in neck circumference in humans. Gender differences in swallow-related neck circumference were examined as a secondary question. Twenty-seven healthy adults (14 females; mean age = 26.6 years, SD = 3.9 years) participated in two experimental runs (run duration = 10 min) during which they produced single trials of three visually cued tasks in random order: effortful saliva swallowing, saliva swallowing, and a control task involving repetitive apposition of the dominant thumb and index finger. Neck and ribcage circumference were simultaneously collected from the output of force transducers positioned around the neck and ribcage, respectively. The primary outcome variables were the positive and negative voltage peak amplitudes associated with changes in neck circumference during single-swallow trials. Effects of the swallowing task on positive and negative voltage peaks were examined with separate two-way analysis of variance procedures. Results indicated that both positive (F = 6.49, p < 0.05) and negative (F = 12.05, p
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