A hi-tech magnet that lets paralysed people drive wheelchairs with a simple flick of their tongue has been developed.
In a new clinical trial, researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and colleagues found that individuals with paralysis were able to use a tongue-controlled technology to access computers and execute commands for their wheelchairs at speeds that were significantly faster than those recorded in sip-and-puff wheelchairs.
Sip-and-puff system is the most popular assistive technology for controlling a wheelchair. Users sip or puff air into a straw mounted on their wheelchair to execute four basic commands that drive the chair.
The Tongue Drive System is controlled by the position of the user's tongue. Sensors in the tongue stud relay the tongue's position to a headset, which then executes up to six commands based on the tongue position.
The idea for piercing the tongue with the magnet was the inspiration of Anne Laumann, professor of dermatology at Feinberg and a lead investigator of the Northwestern University trial.
"Tongue piercing put to medical use - who would have thought it? It is needed and it works!" Laumann said.
The Tongue Drive System holds promise for patients who have lost the use of their arms and legs, a condition known as tetraplegia or quadriplegia.
The research team had subjects complete a set of tasks commonly used in similar clinical trials. Subjects in the trials were either able-bodied or people with tetraplegia.
Researchers found that people with tetraplegia can manoeuvre a wheelchair better with the Tongue Drive System than with the sip-and-puff system.
On average, the performance of 11 subjects with tetraplegia using the Tongue Drive System was three times faster than their performance with the sip-and-puff system, but with the same level of accuracy, even though more than half of the patients had years of daily experience with sip-and-puff technology.
In future studies, scientists will test how the Tongue Drive System performs outside of the controlled clinical environment.
The Tongue Drive System isn't quite ready for commercialisation, but Bionic Sciences - a Georgia Institute of Technology assistant professor Maysam Ghovanloo's startup company - is working with Georgia Tech to move the technology forward.
The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
