Friday, April 17, 2015

Difficulty in Detecting Swallowing

Today we have been trying to use different sensors to detect whether a person is swallowing. When we compare the data from swallowing to resting or talking, we can never see any significant difference.

Professor Mangharam sent us some studies a while ago where the researchers tried to classify swallowing. With significant time, they were able to do so. However, they did so solely by isolating swallowing; they did not consider when the user would be talking.

According to one study, "a limitation of the current study was the need to have a quiet environment. If recording included noise originating from talking, body movements, occasional intrinsic sounds (e.g., coughing), and background noise of different sources, a more complicated algorithm would be needed." Since our product is intended for the user to wear throughout the day, detecting swallowing through audio or electrical signals would not be feasible.

We will continue to test different avenues for detecting swallowing and report on their effectiveness.

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