title: A magneto-inductive sensor based wireless tongue-computer interface.
abstract: We have developed a noninvasive, unobtrusive magnetic wireless tongue-computer interface, called "Tongue Drive," to provide people with severe disabilities with flexible and effective computer access and environment control. A small permanent magnet secured on the tongue by implantation, piercing, or tissue adhesives, is utilized as a tracer to track the tongue movements. The magnetic field variations inside and around the mouth due to the tongue movements are detected by a pair of three-axial linear magneto-inductive sensor modules mounted bilaterally on a headset near the user's cheeks. After being wirelessly transmitted to a portable computer, the sensor output signals are processed by a differential field cancellation algorithm to eliminate the external magnetic field interference, and translated into user control commands, which could then be used to access a desktop computer, maneuver a powered wheelchair, or control other devices in the user's environment. The system has been successfully tested on six able-bodied subjects for computer access by defining six individual commands to resemble mouse functions. Results show that the Tongue Drive system response time for 87% correctly completed commands is 0.8 s, which yields to an information transfer rate of approximately 130 b/min.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30308, USA.
authors.forename: Xueliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huo
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Maysam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghovanloo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016287:Computer Peripherals; D004581:Electronics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013686:Telemetry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014059:Tongue / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014110:Touch; D014159:Transducers; D014584:User-Computer Interface