A New, Portable Orofacial Manometer for Measuring Tongue Strength and Endurance in Children: Laboratory-Based Validity Study.
Rizky Kusuma Wardhani, Luh Karunia Wahyuni, Widjajalaksmi Kusumaningsih and 7 others
PMID 40418854WHAT IT FOUND
A new tongue manometer for children matched a standard pressure gauge in lab tests, with near-perfect agreement across different bulb sizes.
It is safe for oral use and works with a game-based app. Clinical testing in children with swallowing issues is still needed.
Key findings
01The device showed perfect agreement with a standard manometer when connected to a compressor (ρC=1) and with the 2-cm bulb (ρC=1), and almost perfect agreement with the 3-cm bulb (ρC=0.999).
02Materials used for the bulbs and tubes were tested with human stem cells and found to be non-toxic, with cell death rates below 16%.
03The study focused solely on validating the measurement accuracy of the device; the effectiveness of the device as a therapeutic exercise tool has not yet been investigated.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was purely laboratory-based and did not include human participants, so it does not confirm that the device works accurately in the mouths of children. The device was validated against a standard air pressure manometer, not against the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument (IOPI), which is the current clinical gold standard, because the IOPI was unavailable in the study's location. The study focused only on measurement validity; it did not test whether the game-based exercises actually improve tongue strength or swallowing function. The small differences in readings (e.g., 0.005 kPa) are statistically negligible but may not reflect the variability found in human testing.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this device is proven to improve swallowing or tongue strength in patients. This study only proved that the machine measures air pressure accurately in a lab. Clinical trials with children are still needed to show it works in practice.