title: Trial production and application of an optical system for measuring the movements of organs composed of soft tissue.
abstract: A new optical system to measure movements of less accessible organs composed of soft tissue is proposed. The sensor unit is composed of a phototransistor and two light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The LEDs act as light sources and are driven by two phase signals with a phase shift of 90 degrees. The distance between the sensor and the measuring object can be obtained as a function of the phase angle of reflected light detected by the phototransistor. This system can be easily constructed and simultaneously records data from multiple points in real time. The relative precision was 0.5 mm and the resolution was 0.05 mm. Output characteristics of this system were not significantly affected by the reflection factor of the object. Tongue movements in speech production were observed by use of this system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Removable Prosthodontics, University of Tokushima, School of Dentistry, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Horiuchi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ichiba
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004582:Electronics, Medical / Q000295:instrumentation; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D009068:Movement; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D014059:Tongue / Q000502:physiology*; D014173:Transistors, Electronic; D014716:Vertical Dimension