Silent Aspiration Detection in High Resolution Cervical Auscultations
Aspiration is the most serious complication of dysphagia, which may lead to pneumonia. Detection of aspiration is limited by the presence of its signs like coughing and choking, which may be absent in many cases. High resolution cervical auscultations (HRCA) represent a promising non-invasive method intended for the detection of swallowing disorders. In this study, we investigate the potential of HRCA in detection of penetration-aspiration in patients suspected of dysphagia. A variety of features were extracted from HRCA in both time and frequency domains and they were tested for association with the presence of penetration-aspiration. Multiple classifiers were implemented also for aspiration detection using the extracted signal features. The results showed the presence of strong association between some HRCA signal features and penetration-aspiration, furthermore, they direct towards future directions to enhance prediction capability of aspiration using HRCA signals.