Visualization of Muscle Activities of Normal Swallowing Using High-Density Surface Electromyography Maps

This study aims to develop a new approach to visualize the global myoelectric activities related to normal swallowing in human.The high-density surface electromyography (sEMG) signals were recorded by a two-dimensional (2D) 96-electrodes array on the neck region while subjects were performing specified swallowing tasks.The root mean square (RMS) of the sEMG signals was calculated for the 96 channels to construct 2D sEMG maps of the muscle activities.Along the swallowing process,a series of 2D color sEMG maps were concatenated as a dynamic topographical video of swallowing.The dynamic high-density sEMG maps provided the spatial and temporal properties of the electrical muscle activity and presented the muscle contraction coordination which was closely related to the swallowing function.The exeprimental results of this pilot study from five normal subjects show that their sEMG maps represent the consistent patterns in the distribution of muscle activities along with a swallowing process.This might suggest that the dynamic swallowing sEMG maps would be a noninvasive means for visualizing swallowing process and evaluating swallowing function.