...and a Saturday morning answer.
We treat each case individually. Firstly we treat the whole sip/puff
switch as personal equipment, and are they not generally included in
switch kits or moved between users. For initial assessment, we get
people to blow bubbles with a tube, or draw water up a tube. Anyone who
can do that has always been able to use a sip/puff switch.
For some 'wet' users we've added a saliva trap. Filters also work well,
but they introduce a big restriction to the air flow. A simple
saliva/moisture trap is to include a few coils in the tube, hung so any
liquid accumulates at the bottom of the loops. It's easy to see if there
is any build up.
Simple things like having the user end of the tube mounted so it's at a
downward angle can make a gigantic difference to how much saliva runs
into the tube. Oh yes, one client demonstrated that drinking tubes and
sip/puff switches should be separated where ever possible. This person
tended to get both into her mouth at once - that resulted in a very wet
switch!
While I'm on the sip/puff subject: We are now making analogue breath
"switches" which have multiple switching points at different negative or
positive pressure levels. Eg. Gentle puff starts an ECU scanning, strong
puff answers phone immediately, suck for 2 seconds and call system is
activated. We can also work with the rate of change of pressure: A slow
puff up to the threshold can be treated differently to a fast puff. If a
puff switch is one-dimensional, and sip/puff is two dimensions, then we
can now offer three dimensional sip/puff control!
Cheers,
James Dean
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Technical Solutions Australia P/L
109 Ferndale Rd
Silvan Vic 3795
Ph: 03 9737 9000
Fax: 03 9737 9111
www.tecsol.com.au
-----Original Message-----
From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Taylor, Barry
Sent: Saturday, 10 March 2012 1:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: breath switching
Dear all
A Friday question.
Is a saliva trap really necessary on a suck/blow switch? Or a filter?
Barry
Barry Taylor, Clinical Scientist
Medical Physics Service
Tulley Medical Physics Building, Hull Royal Infirmary
Anlaby Road, Hull HU3 2JZ
Tel: 01482 608971, Fax: 01482 608951
Internal extension HRI 608971
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[log in to unmask]
Web page http://www.hey.nhs.uk/content/services/rehabEngineering.aspx
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