| Description |
The User Tongue Electronic System is a prototype, non-invasive diagnostic tool used to measure the volume electrical conduction properties of the human tongue. The device provides an objective assessment of dysphagia caused by neuromuscular disorders affecting bulbar function or radiation therapy administered to treat oropharyngeal carcinoma. This project builds upon the previous prototype of the User Tongue Electronic System, which is controlled wirelessly by a smartphone application via Bluetooth. This Project addressed three principal aims. 1) Refine and optimize the communication strategy by implementing robust WiFi-based hardware, software protocol, and an Android application. 2) Refactor and streamline the application interface for ease of use in both clinical and at-home settings. 3) Gather data about the repeatability of experimental data in resistive loads, phantom media, and ex vivo beef tongue. Measurement accuracy comparison tests show that algorithmic software was implemented correctly on the new device. Comparing Bluetooth device vs. WiFi device performance through n=120 measurements on resistive loads, we found that the WiFi-based device crashed zero times, while the Bluetooth device crashed two time. Thus, the WiFi-based device is prepared for deployment in small clinical studies. Experimental data repeatability depends largely on the measured medium. In purely resistive loads, all measurement frequencies except 16kHz and 256 kHz demonstrated acceptable repeatability where Standard Error of the Mean (SEM) <5% of the mean. In water, impedance magnitude for all frequencies showed repeatability of SEM <5% of the mean. In ex vivo beef tongue, the 128 kHz frequency yielded the most precise experimental measurements, and frequencies 8 kHz, 16 kHz, 32 kHz, and 128 kHz yielded the most precise admittivity calculations. This repeatability procedure will be employed when analyzing future data gathered in small clinical studies. |
