Discrimination of Chewing and Swallowing Using Feature Points of Throat

Abstract

Ingestion of food and water is an important item related to the basis of human life support. However, with aging, oral sensation and saliva secretion decline, making it difficult to swallow, causing food to suffocate in the throat, or to enter the lungs and cause pneumonia, causing "aspiration" in the elderly. In many cases, it can be life-threatening. Such aspiration in the elderly can be prevented by preparatory exercises such as relaxing and training the muscles of the face and neck. In addition, a screening test to quantify the effect is also indispensable. Therefore, in this study, we developed a simple non-contact type sensing system for swallowing motion using only a camera.