“SwallowScope”: Scanner Designed for Intelligent Tele-Dysphagia Care

Imagine a time when eating and drinking becomes a challenge—when your favorite dishes must be pureed, and you don't even know why. This condition, known as "silent" dysphagia, affects an estimated 45-60% of elderly individuals with neuromuscular or neurodegenerative conditions—including dementia, Parkinson's disease, and stroke—and can lead to choking or aspiration pneumonia, the second leading cause of death in Hong Kong. Without routine screening and preventive exercise, families and caregivers often discover the issue only after a serious incident occurs.

"SwallowScope" is a multi-modal dysphagia screening and rehabilitation device, bringing detection to non-professional users without messy skin preparation, complex alignment, or invasive procedures. Its slingshot-shaped probe equipped with soft piezoresistive sensor modules capture the full oropharyngeal biomechanics of each swallow. A built-in SensorLM AI model translates those movements into simple, transparent indicators of swallowing capability.

The device also includes fun, gamified exercises through a mobile app that help seniors train their swallowing muscles daily. Users navigate visualized cartoon characters through obstacles and toward targets to score higher points through voluntary swallowing actions.