2019 Volume 55 Issue 10 Pages 655-661
The Mendelsohn maneuver is one of dysphagia rehabilitation methods and is a swallowing maneuver which voluntarily prolongs laryngeal elevation. In general, the recognition of the laryngeal elevation is difficult for patients. They often need a long-time training to obtain the maneuver. However, showing onset and offset times of laryngeal elevation can promote effective rehabilitation. We propose a measurement device of the laryngeal elevation based on the change of the circumference of the neck. In this study, we develop a neckband-shaped device composed of stretchable strain sensors. The laryngeal elevation changes the neck circumference. The device partially measures the neck circumference. Two methods detect the onset and offset times of the laryngeal elevation. One determines the times from the difference of the time-series circumference of the neck. The other method determines the times from both the difference and a pattern matching. In experiments, 21 healthy subjects conducted 4-second laryngeal elevation in the Mendelsohn maneuver. Simultaneously, a speech-language-hearing therapist determined the times of the laryngeal elevation by palpating the subjects. The method of only the difference correctly detected the onset times. However, the offset times had over 1-second errors in some cases. The other method detected both the onset and offset times with short-time errors. We confirmed that the proposed device and the method with the difference and pattern matching have a potential for a biofeedback rehabilitation device.
