JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

An accurate tongue strength and endurance assessment is necessary for pediatric dysphagia. Tonguefit is a new portable orofacial manometer for measuring tongue strength and endurance and a game-based training app for children.

Objective:

This study tests the validity of Tonguefit compared to the standard manometer as the current gold standard for measuring air pressure.

Methods:

This laboratory study compared Tonguefit and a standard manometer as the gold standard for measuring air pressure. This study was conducted in 3 different experimental conditions. The first experiment compared Tonguefit and the standard manometer using Force Tester(MCT-2150) and pressure controlled by MSatLite software. The second and third experiments involved 2 cm and 3 cm bulbs between the two devices. This study used Lin's concordance correlation to measure the level of agreement.

Results:

There was a mean absolute difference of 0.005 kPa between the Tonguefit and the standard manometer (n=35, ρc=1.00). Statistical analysis shows perfect agreement correlation (ρC =1.000). By using the 2 cm bulb, Tonguefit's mean is 0.007 kPa lower, also showing perfect agreement (ρC = 1.000). Using the 3 cm bulb, results show almost perfect agreement (ρC =0.999) with the Tonguefit's mean 0.044 kPa lower.

Conclusions:

This study confirms the high validity of Tonguefit as an orofacial manometer compared to the standard manometer, with negligible mean differences, near perfect and perfect agreement in the experiments. These results confirm that Tonguefit is a valid and accurate tool for assessing tongue strength.