SWALLOWING ABILITY MEASURING DEVICE AND SWALLOWING ABILITY DETERMINATION METHOD

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To objectively determine a swallowing function or a swallowing ability being specific in a subject without depending on determination criteria or a statistical indicator being set equally or uniformly.SOLUTION: A myoelectric potential measuring device (2) detects and quantifies a surface streaking potential by a detection electrode (3) arranged on the muscle surface of a hyoid bone muscle group. The measurement results (5h) are displayed on a display device (5d, 15). The muscle activity (α) measured when a subject swallows liquid under consciousness of "normally drinking" is set as a "muscle activity level during normal swallowing". The muscle activity (η) measured when the subject swallows the liquid under the consciousness of "strongly drinking" is set as a "muscle activity level during maximum effort swallowing". The swallowing ability of the subject is determined based on the ratio of the "muscle activity level during the maximum effort swallowing"/the "muscle activity level during the normal swallowing" (η/α). The determination results (5g) are displayed on the display device.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1