Reproducibility of tongue pressure measurements using an experimental device.

Only ten people took part, and all were healthy young adults with normal orofacial function, so the study says nothing about how the device performs in patients with dysphagia, dysarthria or facial weakness. One examiner took every measurement, so the study gives no information on whether two different clinicians would get the same reading from the same patient. Posterior tongue pressure was not measured, so the picture of tongue function is incomplete. The authors report that the readings were lower than those from commercial devices and did not compare the devices head to head, so these values cannot be used interchangeably with those from an IOPI or similar system. Right lateralisation was always tested before left, and it was the one movement that rose between visits, so that change may reflect repeated testing rather than a real difference. All participants were university staff or students, which limits how far the findings stretch.

The study was financed in part by CAPES, a Brazilian federal funding agency (Finance Code 001), and received support from the Teaching Fund of the Federal University of Santa Maria through public notice 017/2023. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The device itself was developed by the authors' own research group, so they have a stake in how well it performs.

Do not read the good reliability as evidence this device is ready for your clinic. It was tested on ten healthy adults by a single examiner, no one with dysarthria, dysphagia or facial weakness took part, and it exists only as a prototype. Do not read the rise in right lateralisation as a treatment effect either: no treatment was given, and the right side was always measured before the left.