Fig 5.

Swallowing evaluation using artificial food bolus. (A) The prepared artificial bolus for swallowing evaluation. The artificial food bolus was molded with the prescribed volume. (B) Laryngeal elevation (red arrow) time was measured as swallowing time. (C) The swallowing time of artificial bolus with different volume. The time increases linearly until the volume of 400 mm³, and then largely increases more than this volume (P **<0.01). (D) The swallowing time of artificial food bolus with different Young's modulus. The time increases linearly until the modulus below 110 kPa. Participants are unable to swallow the artificial bolus of 200 kPa without mastication. (E) The swallowing time of artificial food bolus (100–400 mm³) with different Young's modulus. The swallowing time of artificial bolus below 23.8 kPa indicates the significantly rapid swallowing.