Tongue Trainer Final Report Nick Vandehey Andrea Khosropour Andy VanDeWeghe Brian Bye Biomedical Engineering Department University of Wisconsin Madison Prepared for BME 402 Capstone Design Course Spring 2004 Abstract The purpose of our project is to improve upon another group s previous work in creating a therapeutic device for people with swallowing disorders This device will allow patients to improve and extend their lives by strengthening their tongue through proper exercise Last semester we started making a working prototype with a boil and bite mouth guard as our mouthpiece and a two project boards A pressure sensor was connected to one of the boards and communicated wirelessly via a IR signal the pressure exerted on the sensor to the other project board that provided audio and visual feedback to the user This feedback was made to provide the user information in a simple manner as to how well they are doing This semester we have improved on this working prototype having the characteristics described in our proposed solution i Table of Contents Tongue Trainer i Final Report i Table of Contents ii Problem Statement iii Introduction 1 Oral Anatomy and Physiology of the Ideal Swallowing Process 1 Dysphagia 2 Design Process and Prototype Description 3 Device Specifications 3 Mouthpiece 4 Sensor 7 Feedback 9 Communication and Signal Flow 11 Zilog Z8Encore 12 Programming the Development Board 13 Future Work 19 References 20 Appendix A Signal Flow for Tongue Trainer 22 Appendix B Product Design Specifications 32 Function 32 Client Requirements 32 Design Requirements 32 Appendix C Analog and Digital Signals 35 Definitions 35 Analog to Digital Conversion 36 Appendix D Polymorph MSDS 41 Appendix E Mouthpiece Electronics Schematic 50 ii Problem Statement The purpose of our project for the senior design class is to make a device to facilitate tongue strengthening exercises to help people who suffer from dysphagia Dysphagia is the impairment or inability to swallow properly creating a decrease in the quality of life Millions of elderly are affected by this problem making dysphagia a very significant disorder Our design is a modification of a previous device that is currently used in clinical settings to give feedback to patients during their tongue exercises The device needs to be usable by the patients in their homes Our final design is a two part wireless system including an oral apparatus that senses the pressure exerted by the tongue on the palate of the mouth and a second apparatus that displays the information in a simple comprehensible manner iii Introduction This design project seeks to aid treatment of swallowing disorders Swallowing is a complex process nearly 50 muscle pairs must work in concert to prepare and move a food bolus Disorders of swallowing affect millions of people with consequences ranging from mild to deadly Research has shown that these disorders can be treated by exercise This report details the progress of a biomedical engineering student design project which seeks to aid such therapeutic exercise First is background information relevant to the project The physiology of swallowing and pathology are explained followed by fundamentals of analog and digital signals Next the design specifications are explained along with details of the design solution and implementation Finally areas of further work will be discussed Oral Anatomy and Physiology of the Ideal Swallowing Process In order to understand completely the process of swallowing and the problems associated with dysphagia one must understand the parts of the body involved with swallowing and how they work Figure 1 Anatomy of Mouth http www bartleby com 107 Images large image994 gif below shows the main anatomical features involved in swallowing Figure 1 Anatomy of Mouth http www bartleby com 107 Images large image994 gif 1 The first stage of swallowing is the chewing of the food by the teeth This stage also involves the tongue because it must position the food for the teeth to be effective The tongue also crushes food against the hard palate during chewing which creates a bolus or ball of food Sherwood 570 that is ready to be swallowed After the bolus is ready the tongue triggers a complex pattern of muscle actions based on a swallowing reflex The tongue initiates this pattern by voluntarily pushing the bolus to the back of the mouth generating pressure on the pharynx In the second that follows the reflex trigger the oropharyngeal stage of the swallowing process takes place In this stage the following actions take place in order to direct the food in the right direction Sherwood 571 The tongue creates a pressure seal as it presses against the hard palate The soft palate rises to close off the pharynx from the nasal cavity The epiglottis drops to block the trachea The vocal cords form a second seal to the trachea Digestive tract muscles contract to move food down esophagus The second stage of swallowing called the esophageal stage involves the bolus of food being pushed down the esophagus Here the muscles around the esophagus contract in peristaltic waves until the bolus reaches the stomach Once the food reaches the stomach the swallowing process is done Dysphagia Six million people over age 60 in the USA suffer from some type of swallowing disorder also known as dysphagia AHRQ This condition arises due to many other health problems such as stroke neurogenic diseases and old age Robbins and causes patient to have difficulties swallowing ranging from minor problems such as drooling while eating to the complete inability to swallow anything In between the range of drooling to not being able to swallow some other issues affect patients with dysphagia The first arises simply from not being able to force food down their throat which is called a clearance problem This leads to messy eating or malnutrition of the patient forcing them to use a feeding tube A feeding tube is a tube that is put down the patient s throat into the stomach or surgically implanted through the abdomen creating a direct path to the stomach Besides the need for surgery being a problem these altered food delivery methods greatly decrease the patient s quality of life since eating is such an important part of social life Robbins Another issue arises when the patient is able to swallow but inadvertently directs food down the wrong pipe Technically this misdirection leads to aspiration which is defined as entry of material below the level of the
View Full Document
Unlocking...