Development of a Spatial Cognitive Exercise Training Tool to Restore Tongue Function in Patients With Swallowing Disorders

Eating is a fundamental activity essential for survival throughout life. The tongue identifies the strength, shape, location, and movement of food in the oral cavity and oversees masticatory function, playing a vital role in normal chewing and swallowing. This study aimed to develop a training tool to efficiently restore the tongue's controlled motor function and its ability to explore and discriminate food shapes and textures. Given the inherent plasticity of skeletal muscles, including those active during swallowing, exercise may significantly contribute to dysphagia rehabilitation. While various muscle-strengthening training methods are in use, scientific and objective evidence to clearly establish their efficacy and enable individualized treatment programs remains limited. The training tool developed in this study can directly measure training effectiveness through three-dimensional analysis with digitally quantified exercise metrics. However, as the tool is still in the early prototype development stage, further usability evaluations are needed following prototype completion.