Apparatus and method for detecting aspiration

摘要: An apparatus and method for detecting swallowing activity is provided. In an embodiment, a method includes receiving an electronic signal from an accelerometer that represents swallowing activity, extracting at least two features from the signal, classifying the signal as a type of swallowing activity based on the extracted features, and generating an output of the classification. Exemplary activities include swallows, aspirations, movement and vocal artifacts. By indicating whether an activity is a swallow or an aspiration, the manner in which a patient afflicted with an increased likelihood for aspirations is fed can be adjusted to increase the likelihood of achieving a swallow instead of an aspiration during feeding. In turn this could reduce hospitalizations for aspiration pneumonia in patients with acute or chronic injury.