Measurement of swallowing using flexible polymer sensor

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Sensor Technology
• Physiology

Background:

• Accurate measurement of human swallowing is crucial for diagnosing and managing various medical conditions.
• Existing methods for swallowing assessment can be invasive or limited in their ability to capture real-time physiological data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate a new non-invasive method for measuring human swallowing using a flexible polymer sensor.
• To develop a complementary measurement system for the sensor and reference electromyography (EMG).

Main Methods:

• A flexible polymer sensor was developed to detect swallowing events.
• A custom measurement system was engineered, incorporating circuits for sensor voltage and suprahyoid muscle EMG.
• Experimental validation involved a single subject performing swallowing tasks in varied postures while consuming water.

Main Results:

• The flexible polymer sensor successfully detected human swallowing events during the experiments.
• Correlation between sensor data and EMG signals of suprahyoid muscles was observed, indicating swallowing-related activity.
• The developed system demonstrated the feasibility of using the sensor for swallowing measurement.

Conclusions:

• The proposed flexible polymer sensor presents a viable new tool for non-invasive human swallowing measurement.
• This technology has potential applications in clinical diagnostics, rehabilitation, and research related to dysphagia.