Electrical Taste Thresholds Established on the Medial Tongue using Two Sizes of Electrodes

Electrical Taste Thresholds Established on the Medial Tongue using Two Sizes of Electrodes

Objectives/Hypothesis: The present study determined whether a 125 mm2 electrode would produce lower and more reliable electrical taste thresholds than a 25 mm2 electrode when measurement occurred in a medial tongue region relatively sparse in taste bud numbers. We hypothesized this would be the case...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Laryngoscope Vol. 115; no. 8; pp. 1509 - 1511
Main Authors: Nicolaescu, Serban A., Wertheimer, Jaclyn M., Barbash, Scott E., Doty, Richard L.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Hoboken, NJ John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-08-2005
Wiley-Blackwell
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
clinical assessment
Electric Stimulation - instrumentation
Electric Stimulation - methods
Electrodes
electrogustometry
Equipment Design
Female
gustation
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology
Probability
Reference Values
Reproducibility of Results
Sampling Studies
Sensitivity and Specificity
Sensory Thresholds - physiology
Students, Medical
Taste
Taste Buds - physiology
taste psychophysics
Taste Threshold - physiology
Electrodes
Human
Tongue
clinical assessment
Gustation
taste psychophysics
Exploration
ENT
Taste
Electrogustometry
Psychophysics
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Summary:Objectives/Hypothesis: The present study determined whether a 125 mm2 electrode would produce lower and more reliable electrical taste thresholds than a 25 mm2 electrode when measurement occurred in a medial tongue region relatively sparse in taste bud numbers. We hypothesized this would be the case and that the obtained threshold values would be higher than those previously reported for anterior and lateral tongue regions. Study Design And Methods: Sixteen college‐age subjects were tested twice, once using the 25 mm2 electrode and once using the 125 mm2 electrode on each of two sessions separated by 2 to 16 days. The order of presentation of the sessions was counterbalanced across subjects. Measurement was confined to the medial tongue, 0.7 cm lateral to the median furrow. Results: As hypothesized, the larger electrode resulted in lower and more reliable threshold values than the smaller electrode (respective median threshold values = 20.06 μA & 33.59 μA, P = .001; respective test‐retest rs = 0.78 [P < .001] and 0.46 [P < .05]). Also as hypothesized, the threshold values were higher (i.e., sensitivity lower) than previously reported for anterior and lateral tongue regions. Conclusions: The magnitude and reliability of electrical taste thresholds depends on the tongue region examined and the size of the electrodes used. These results suggest that relatively large electrodes should be considered for electrogustometric threshold testing, particularly when lingual regions not highly populated with taste buds are evaluated.
Bibliography:istex:070047737789FFC4FA5611572400EF0E13EFB7AB
ark:/67375/WNG-M7VZX8HR-B
ArticleID:LARY5541150834
Supported, in part, by grants PO1 DC 00161, RO1 DC04278, and RO1 DC02974 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, and RO1 AG17496 from the National Institute of Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Dr. Doty is a major shareholder in Sensonics, Inc., a distributor of the Rion TR-06 electrogustometer used in this study.
Dr. Doty is a major shareholder in Sensonics, Inc., a distributor of the Rion TR‐06 electrogustometer used in this study.
Supported, in part, by grants PO1 DC 00161, RO1 DC04278, and RO1 DC02974 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, and RO1 AG17496 from the National Institute of Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0023-852X
1531-4995
DOI:10.1097/01.mlg.0000172206.18433.c5