Comparison of the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument and JMS tongue pressure measurement device

Background/purpose: Tongue pressure measurement conveys important information about eating and swallowing function. The Iowa Oral Performance Instrument® (IOPI) and KAY Swallowing Workstation® are internationally used for tongue pressure measurement, but for legal reasons cannot be used in Japan; rather the JMS tongue pressure measurement device® has been approved for use in Japan. However, it is not clear whether measurement obtained with these devices are directly comparable. Materials and methods: This study investigated the correlation between the maximum tongue pressure data measured by the IOPI and the JMS tongue pressure measurement device in young healthy participants (34 males; 23.2 ± 2.0 years old, and 40 females; 21.4 ± 1.3 years old). Results: Measurements obtained with these two devices showed significant correlations in the total cohort, and in male and female participants, separately (P < 0.05). Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that the measurements obtained with the JMS device is comparable to those obtained with the IOPI. In Japan, JMS tongue pressure measurement device is used not only in dysphagia research field, but also geriatrics field, and extensive and detailed investigations has been carried out.