Wearable device for the throat offers stroke recovery potential

A new type of wearable device for the throat has been developed as a potential means of facilitating people's recovery after experiencing a stroke.

Created by Northwestern University and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, the stretchable sensor is designed similarly to a bandage and is applied to the throat to measure patients' swallowing ability and patterns of speech.

In conjunction with other sensors attached to the legs, arms and chest, data can be streamed wirelessly to clinicians' phones and computers, providing a full-body real-time picture of patients' physiological responses.

Traditional methods of monitoring speech function, such as microphones, cannot distinguish between patients' voices and ambient noise, a problem that this new device solves. They also allow patients to continue wearing them even after they leave hospital.

Northwestern University engineering professor John Rogers said: "Stretchable electronics allow us to see what is going on inside patients' bodies at a level traditional wearables simply cannot achieve. The key is to make them as integrated as possible with the human body."

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