Development of tongue strength and endurance measurement device: A pilot study in healthy adults
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Abstract
Background: Safe and efficient swallowing relies on adequate tongue strength and endurance. Thus, tongue strength and endurance assessments are essential for swallowing rehabilitation for individuals with swallowing difficulties due to tongue structure and function abnormalities. These tongue functions can be objectively measured using a standard device. However, in Thailand, assessing tongue strength and endurance using standard devices is not widespread in clinical practice due to the high cost of importing these devices.
Objective: This study aimed to develop a precise, accurate, and reliable tongue function measurement device for the clinical assessment of tongue strength and endurance.
Materials and methods: This study was divided into three phases: 1) Development of a tongue strength and endurance measurement device in a laboratory setting and administration of a satisfaction questionnaire, 2) Trial of the prototype device with six participants, and 3) Assessment of the test-retest reliability of the developed device and investigation of tongue strength and endurance values with twenty participants.
Results: As a result of this development, a novel device for measuring tongue strength and endurance was obtained, which provides measurements in units of newtons (N) and kilopascals (kPa) for strength and seconds (s) for endurance. The device’s development cost was significantly lower compared to imported commercially available devices while maintaining the performance standards for medical measurement devices. This was demonstrated by its accuracy ranging from 96.40% to 100%, high precision with a Coefficient of Variation (% CV) of 0.90% to 4.21%, and moderate to excellent reliability with an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) of 0.56 to 0.93. Furthermore, statistically significant differences (p<0.01) were observed between genders, especially in anterior tongue strength.
Conclusion: The tongue strength and endurance measurement device developed through this study can be utilized for clinical tongue function assessment, giving patients more access to objective evaluations of tongue strength and endurance at a lower examination cost.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Personal views expressed by the contributors in their articles are not necessarily those of the Journal of Associated Medical Sciences, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Chiang Mai University.
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