Department of General Dentistry, Hiroshima University Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
Department of Dental Anesthesiology, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
Clin Exp Dent Res. 2022 Feb;8(1):225-230. doi: 10.1002/cre2.531. Epub 2022 Jan 11.
Daily assessments of swallowing function and interventions such as rehabilitation and dietary adjustments are necessary to improve dysphagia. Cervical auscultation is convenient for health care providers for assessing swallowing ability. Although this method allows for swallowing sound evaluations, sensory evaluations with this method are difficult. Thus, we aimed to assess swallowing sound by the combined use of an electronic stethoscope and an artificial intelligence (AI) system that incorporates sound recognition.
Herein, 20 fifth-year dentistry student volunteers were included; each participant was drank 10 ml and then 20 ml of water in different positions (sitting and supine). We developed an algorithm for indexing bolus inflow sounds using AI, which compared the swallowing sounds and created a new index.
The new index value used for swallowing sound was significantly higher in men than in women and in the sitting position than in the supine position. A software for acoustic analysis confirmed that the swallowing index was significantly higher in men than in women as well as in the sitting position than in the supine position. These results were similar to those obtained using the new index. However, the new index substantially differed between sexes in terms of posture compared with effective sound pressure.
We developed a new algorithm for indexing swallowing sounds using a stethoscope and an AI system, which could identify swallowing sounds. For future research and development, evaluations of patients with dysphagia are necessary to determine the efficacy of the new index for bedside screening of swallowing conditions.
为了改善吞咽困难，有必要每天评估吞咽功能并进行干预，如康复和饮食调整。听诊是医护人员评估吞咽能力的一种方便方法。尽管这种方法可以评估吞咽声音，但使用这种方法进行感觉评估却很困难。因此，我们旨在通过联合使用电子听诊器和人工智能（AI）系统来评估吞咽声音，该系统结合了声音识别。
在此，纳入了 20 名五年级牙科学生志愿者；每个参与者分别以坐姿和仰卧位，喝下 10ml 和 20ml 的水。我们开发了一种使用 AI 索引食团流入声音的算法，该算法比较了吞咽声音并创建了一个新的索引。
男性的新吞咽声音指数值明显高于女性，且坐姿时的指数值高于仰卧位。声学分析软件证实，男性的吞咽指数高于女性，坐姿时的指数高于仰卧位。这些结果与新指数的结果相似。然而，与有效声压相比，新指数在体位方面的性别差异较大。
我们开发了一种使用听诊器和 AI 系统索引吞咽声音的新算法，该算法可以识别吞咽声音。未来的研究和开发需要对吞咽困难患者进行评估，以确定新指数在床边吞咽状况筛查中的疗效。
