title: Qualitative assessment of tongue drive system by people with high-level spinal cord injury.
abstract: The Tongue Drive System (TDS) is a minimally invasive, wireless, and wearable assistive technology (AT) that enables people with severe disabilities to control their environments using tongue motion. TDS translates specific tongue gestures into commands by sensing the magnetic field created by a small magnetic tracer applied to the user's tongue. We have previously quantitatively evaluated the TDS for accessing computers and powered wheelchairs, demonstrating its usability. In this study, we focused on its qualitative evaluation by people with high-level spinal cord injury who each received a magnetic tongue piercing and used the TDS for 6 wk. We used two questionnaires, an after-scenario and a poststudy, designed to evaluate the tongue-piercing experience and the TDS usability compared with that of the sip-and-puff and the users' current ATs. After study completion, 73% of the participants were positive about keeping the magnetic tongue-barbell in order to use the TDS. All were satisfied with the TDS performance and most said that they were able to do more things using TDS than their current ATs (4.22/5).
authors.affiliation: GT Bionics Laboratory, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: Jeonghee
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hangue
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Joy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bruce
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rowles
authors.forename: Jaimee
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Holbrook
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nardone
authors.forename: Dennis P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: Anne E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Laumann
authors.forename: Elliot
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: Emir
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Veledar
authors.forename: Maysam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghovanloo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D046288:Body Piercing / Q000009:adverse effects; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005868:Gestures; D006801:Humans; D059346:Magnets; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011782:Quadriplegia / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012656:Self-Help Devices; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014059:Tongue
keywords: assistive technologies; computer access; magnetic 
  tongue piercing; qualitative analysis; questionnaire; rehabilitation; spinal cord injury; tetraplegia; tongue drive; wheelchair 
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