Tongue-Controlled Wheelchair Works Better than Previous Navigation System

A recent study looks at the possibilities of a tongue-controlled wheelchair that can work as a navigation system.

Subjects involved in the trial were either able-bodied or people with tetraplegia.

"By the end of the trials, everybody preferred the Tongue Drive System over their current assistive technology," said Joy Bruce, manager of Shepherd Center's Spinal Cord Injury Lab and co-author of the study, according to Science Codex. "It allows them to engage their environment in a way that is otherwise not possible for them."

Researchers compared how able-bodied subjects were able to use the commands involving the Tongue Drive System or a keypad and mouse. Through looking at images on a computer screen, subjects were asked to move the cursor in order to click their target. During this, scientists were able to calculate how much information is transferred from a participant's brain to the computer as they perform a point-and-click task.

The study showed that those with tetraplegia can maneuver a wheelchair better with the tongue device than with different mechanisms.

"That was a very exciting finding," Ghovanloo said, via ABC News. "It attests to how quickly and accurately you can move your tongue."

The experiment was repeated for a period of five weeks with the able-bodied group and then six weeks for the tetraplegic group. All subjects with the tetraplegia were able to work the device using just their tongue.

The idea for this mechanism was an inspiration of Anne Laumann, M.D., professor of dermatology at Feinberg and a lead investigator of Northwestern trial. She had read about an early stage of Tongue Drive System using a glued-on tongue magnet and was hoping to apply this idea to help motorize wheelchairs.

"Tongue piercing put to medical use-who would have thought it? It is needed and it works!" Laumann said.

Though the product is not ready for commercialization yet, Ghovanloo's startup company, Bionic Sciences, is currently working with Georgia Tech to move the technology forward.