New device to help people with swallowing problems

Washington: Here's the good news for the patients suffering from swallowing disorders. Scientists reveal a wearable monitoring device that will make the treatments easier and more affordable.

Georgia A Malandraki, an associate professor of speech, language, and hearing sciences at Purdue University's College of Health and Human Sciences, and Chi Hwan Lee, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering at Purdue's College of Engineering, have founded Curasis LLC to commercialise their wearable technology and move it as quickly as possible to clinics and people with swallowing difficulties.

"We want to provide a reliable, patient-friendly and affordable way to treat the millions of people with swallowing disorders," said Malandraki. "Many devices to help these people are expensive, not able to be taken home and not accessible in many rural areas."

The researchers have created a skin-mountable sensor sticker that attaches firmly to the neck area and is connected with small cables to a wireless transmitter unit. The skin-mountable sensor sticker measures and records muscle activity and movement associated with swallowing.

The information is then sent wirelessly by a separate unit clipped on the wearer's shirt to software that stores it for later analysis by a doctor.

Successful completion of a swallow requires the precise coordination of more than 30 pairs of muscles of the head and neck, six pairs of cranial nerves, and complex circuitry in the brainstem and several brain areas.

Any disruption in these pathways can result in severe swallowing disorders.

"Our device is unique in that we specifically created it to work well with the small and intricate muscles associated with swallowing events," Lee said.

"The sensor sticker is stretchable and flexible to work well with the skin and curvilinear head and neck shape, while the connected unit has electronic chips and more rigid components," added Lee.

The sensor stickers are disposable, designed with inexpensive components and meant to be used about 10 times before they are thrown away.