| Abstract (ENG): |
Orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMDs) refer to a collection of conditions affecting oral
and facial muscles, causing either functional or cosmetic issues. These disorders encompass
improper posture of orofacial muscles, unusual chewing, swallowing, or speech patterns, dental
misalignments, and blocked nasal passages (Russel 2017). The exact incidence of OMDs in
children is difficult to determine, as they often go unrecognized, and, therefore, are often
untreated. There is limited research on the prevalence of OMD in the general population, and
the results vary greatly between studies. However, according to (Kellum 1994), the accepted
prevalence of OMD is estimated to be 38%.
While a large part of the orofacial myofunctional therapy takes place together with speech
therapists in offices, a not to be underestimated part of the therapy consists of exercises for
home. A whistle can serve as a tool, resulting in activation of muscles near the lips and cheeks
(Shah 2021). Unfortunately, these exercises are often not properly carried out by children or
monitored by parents.
This poses two major problems: First, it is difficult for the therapists to assess how
conscientiously the exercises have been carried out. Second, the exercises are not fun and
parents often have to convince their children to practice.
Assessing, how often exercises were properly carried out, would enable therapists to tailor
face-to-face sessions to children’s current progress. Therapists assume that the therapy is more
successful if the exercises are performed more often. There are also a lot of studies that show,
that children are more likely to exercise if they have fun doing so (Watson 2016).
Therefore, we propose a mobile serious game platform to improve orofacial myofunctional
therapy for children. It offers various games (e.g., Flappy Bird, a top-down car-racing game),
which are not controlled via regular touch input, but the audio signal of before mentioned
whistles. Therapists have the possibility to set weekly goals and track the progress of children.
Finally, children may benefit from this approach, as they carry out their exercises while
playing. Currently, we are designing a pre-study to evaluate the mobile application with
children suffering from OMD. |
| Citation: |
Karthan, Maximilian and Hieber, Daniel and Pryss, Rüdiger and Schobel, Johannes
(2023)
Developing a Mobile Serious Game Platform to Improve Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy for Children.
In: 1. Heidelberger Frühjahrssymposium Medizinische Informatik, 17.5.2023, Heidelberg, Germany (Hybridveranstaltung).
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