| Because of the potentially harmful repercussions of undiagnosed dysphagia, a quick and accurate assessment is necessary to initiate proper treatment as soon as possible. In many situations and settings, the clinical dysphagia evaluation is the only assessment tool available to the speech-language pathologist for the evaluation of swallowing. Although the clinical evaluation does provide useful information, it is reportedly insensitive for diagnosing some forms of dysphagia. Cervical auscultation and measures of tongue function during swallowing are proposed in this investigation to augment the clinical dysphagia evaluation to improve its accuracy for diagnosing dysphagia. Prior to diagnosing disordered swallowing, however, it is necessary to characterize normal swallowing.; One-hundred-and-one healthy participants, ages 20–79, with no history of swallowing impairment participated in this investigation. Participants consumed teaspoon boluses of puree, honey, thin, and soft consistencies while the sounds of swallowing were recorded. Participants also consumed 30 ml boluses of honey and thin consistencies while their peak tongue strengths were measured.; Descriptive statistics were calculated and reported for the duration of the acoustic swallowing signal, the duration to the peak intensity of the signal, the peak intensity of the signal, the frequency of the peak intensity of the swallow, and the peak frequency of the swallow, as was the mean peak anterior tongue strength during swallowing. Correlations between the variables were also computed. Analyses were conducted with data collapsed across bolus types, as well as for individual bolus consistencies.; The objective of this study was to provide a quantitative characterization of swallowing acoustics and peak anterior tongue strength in a sample of normal individuals. Overall, results compared favorably with previous research. Significant correlations were found between the age and the duration variables (positive), age and the intensity variables (negative), the duration variables (positive), the duration to peak intensity and the frequency at peak intensity (negative), the intensity and the frequency variables (positive), and the frequency variables (positive). The current study can serve as a point of reference for future studies, which should further investigate normal swallowing across multiple bolus consistencies and volumes, and eventually compare these measures to those with individuals with disordered swallowing. |
