Assistive Technologies and Quadriplegia: A Map Point on the Development and Spread of the Tongue Barbell Piercing

Abstract

The barbell piercing can be used as an assistive device that allows people with severe disabilities, such as tetraplegia, to control their environments using the movement of the tongue. The human tongue can move rapidly and accurately, such that the tip can touch every tooth. Lingual control systems allow people with disabilities to take advantage of their residual skills for easier communication and to improve the control of mobility and the surrounding environment. The aim of this study was to conduct a narrative review of the development and dissemination of the assistive technologies based on tongue control by means of the barbell piercing. The design of the study was based on: (I) an overview of Pubmed complemented with other databases and Web searches (also institutional); (II) an organization according to a standardized checklist for narrative reviews; (III) an arrangement with four different perspectives: the trends in the scientific literature, technological evolution and categorization, dominant approaches, issues of incorporation into the health domain—such as acceptance, safety, and regulations. The results have highlighted: (1) that the volume of scientific productions, which started in this sector before the smartphone expansion, has not increased; (2) that it is possible to make a map point of the technological evolution and categorization; (3) that these assistive technologies have a high degree of acceptance and performance, especially when integrated with aid tools with mechatronics; (4) and the complexity of the regulatory framework in this area. The study, from a general point of view, highlighted the high potential of these systems and we suggest investing the energy into agreement tools for assistive technologies (AT)s, such as health technology assessment studies, comparative assessment analysis, or consensus conferences that could allow a better diffusion and use of ATs, including these systems.

Human–Machine Collaboration in Diagnostics: Exploring the Synergy in Clinical Imaging with Artificial Intelligence

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Bridging the Gap: Exploring Opportunities, Challenges, and Problems in Integrating Assistive Technologies, Robotics, and Automated Machines into the Health Domain

“…To explore the opportunities, challenges, issues, and bottlenecks of integrating these tools (alone or interconnected) into the domain, this Special Issue [10] was initiated in May 2022, and was subsequently completed in January 2023. This Special Issue collected 17 contributions plus an editorial [1,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], and covered a wide range of topics, including:…”

“…Pirrera et al [18] conducted an overview of Ats, using devices based on the control of the tongue with an arranged barbell piercing. They showed that these smart devices were promising, and suggested better integration into the health domain.…”

“…The criticality of regulatory and ethical aspects in these highly innovative technological systems, both with and without AI content [18,25];…”

“…AMs have found application in innovative machines called excretion nursing equipment [15] within smart medical devices [18], and in innovative feature recognition algorithms in BT [20];…”