Intraoral swallow pressure profiles: general features and aids to categorization

Purpose The primary goal of this study was to establish a normative data set representing intraoral time series swallow pressure profles for healthy adults using a novel wearable intraoral pressure sensing system, OroPress, developed to help with dysphagia (swallow disorder) clinical screening. Methods Swallow intraoral pressure-time profles for 35 healthy adults (17 male, 18 female) swallowing water (3 × 5 cm3; 3 × 10 cm3) and custard (3 × 5 cm3) boluses (N = 9 × 35 = 315) were recorded using OroPress. Results General swallow profle traits are identifed to characterise an efective, efcient swallow. A profle-specifc swallow envelope function is devised which in combination with profle metrics, provides a simple means of categorizing swallows as efective or impaired. Conclusion The swallow profle data trace with superimposed and colour coded peaks, envelope function and related swal low metrics provides a simple human readable graphic to aid the real-time instrumented identifcation of subjects warranting more in-depth clinical assessment. It may also prove useful in the selection of training set profles for machine learning and other analysis tools which could improve the discriminatory capabilities of intraoral pressure measurement in dysphagia diagnostics.