Quadriplegics Can Operate Powered Wheelchair With Tongue Drive
System An assistive technology that enables individuals to
maneuver a powered wheelchair or control a mouse cursor using
simple tongue movements can be operated by individuals with
high-level spinal cord injuries, according to the results of a
recently completed clinical trial. “This clinical trial has
validated that the Tongue Drive system is intuitive and quite
simple for individuals with high-level spinal cord injuries to
use,” said Maysam Ghovanloo, an assistant professor in the
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia
Institute of Technology. “Trial participants were able to easily
remember and correctly issue tongue commands to play computer
games and drive a powered wheelchair around an obstacle course
with very little prior training.” At the annual conference of
the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society
of North America (RESNA) on June 26, the researchers reported
the results of the first five clin