Baseline Characteristics of Dual-Axis Cervical Accelerometry Signals

Dual-axis swallowing accelerometry is a promising noninvasive tool for the assessment of difficulties during deglutition. The resting and anaerobic characteristics of these signals, however, are still unknown. This paper presents a study of baseline characteristics (stationarity, spectral features, and information content) of dual-axis cervical vibrations. In addition, modeling of a data acquisition system was performed to annul any undesired instrumentation effects. Two independent data collection procedures were conducted to fulfil the goals of the study. For baseline characterization, data were acquired from 50 healthy adult subjects. To model the data acquisition (DAQ) system, ten recordings were obtained while the system was exposed to random small vibrations. The inverse filtering approach removed extraneous effects introduced by the DAQ system. Approximately half of the filtered signals were stationary in nature. All signals exhibited a level of statistical dependence between the two axes. Also, there were very low frequency oscillations present in these signals that may be attributable to vasomotion of blood vessels near the thyroid cartilage, blood flow, and respiration. Demographic variables such as age and gender did not statistically influence baseline information-theoretic signal characteristics. However, participant age did affect the baseline spectral characteristics. These findings are important to the further development of diagnostic devices based on dual-axis swallowing vibration signals.