# Development and Validation of Mechanically Compliant Wearable Monitoring Systems for Swallowing Function and Disorders

> **NIH NIH R21** · PURDUE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $187,707

## Abstract

Rural areas often experience shortages of medical professionals and technologies. Such shortages
significantly affect patient health and outcomes, justifying investments in tele-rehabilitation technology to
deliver these services remotely. Modern technologies enable the use of portable monitoring systems,
facilitating clinicians to remotely collect biofeedback signals for rehabilitation practices and enabling patients to
use real-time biofeedback. However, existing devices suffer from rigid or semi-flexible platforms, which are not
suited for interfacing with the soft, curvilinear, and dynamic parts of the human body (e.g., the submental
(under the chin) and intraoral areas). This often results in poor data acquisition and in discomfort, thereby
affecting patient compliance. Moreover, poor treatment compliance is identified as a critical barrier to
rehabilitation, and is primarily attributed to expensive, difficult-to-use or limited availability of equipment/devices,
and inability to physically access treatment. This team's long-term goal is to provide a complete set of
advanced wearable devices that can be easily and accurately utilized for day-to-day tele-rehabilitation needs.
The objective of this project is to develop and start validating a collection of inexpensive soft, thin monitoring
systems that can perfectly fit into/on the human body, and then wirelessly provide accurate real-time data to
patients and clinicians. Two curvilinear and structurally complex areas of the human body, the submental and
intraoral areas, will be targeted for the development of these novel, wearable transducers. Measurements from
these areas are essential during rehabilitation of swallowing, a vital body function that is used as the model for
this proposal. Swallowing disorders (dysphagia) are common in many diseases (e.g., head and neck cancer,
stroke, etc.) and significantly affect health, quality of life, and social integration. To accurately monitor
swallowing signals, intimate attachment of sensors to the anatomically challenging head/neck skin and intra-
oral environment is essential. To attain the stated objective, the following specific aims are proposed: 1) to
develop and conduct benchtop testing of a wireless soft, thin sensor patch tailored for submental muscle
monitoring, 2) to develop and conduct benchtop testing of a wireless palatal plate sensor tailored for intraoral
pressure/movement monitoring, and 3) to conduct iterative pre-clinical experiments in healthy adults to validate
the safety, ease-of-use/comfort, and signal quality of the sensors during swallowing tasks and exercises. The
proposed research is innovative, as it will develop novel, wearable tele-monitoring systems that are tailored for
two challenging areas anatomically. This contribution will be significant because it will offer a first-of-its-kind,
mechanically compliant, inexpensive, and reliable wearable system for swallowing signals monitoring. This
work will then form the basis ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9979848
- **Project number:** 5R21EB026099-02
- **Recipient organization:** PURDUE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Chi Hwan Lee
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $187,707
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-20 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9979848

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9979848, Development and Validation of Mechanically Compliant Wearable Monitoring Systems for Swallowing Function and Disorders (5R21EB026099-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9979848. Licensed CC0.

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