Food in-mouth transformation and swallowing are the first steps in food uptake. As such, they are of uttermost importance in food sensorial experience and in the preparation of food digestion. Deglutition is a complex physiological process involving the coordination of several movements, including an effective protection of the airways against unwanted entry of food. Videofluoroscopy (VF) is an important tool for a correct diagnosis and treatment of swallowing pathologies.
This student project aims at using image analysis to extract quantitative measurements from VF movies in order to better understand the physiology of human swallowing. Such measurements include the movement of the bolus (c) and of anatomical elements such as the Hyoid bone (b) and the mandible (a). The implementation will be done in Java using ImageJ.
This project is in collaboration with Nestlé Research Center, Lausanne.