Within medicine there are different technologies designed to provide people with mobility or hearing limitations the possibility of recovering these abilities and greatly improving their quality of life.
Through the use of devices such as smartphones or tablets, it has been possible to generate human-machine interfaces to provide assistance to people unable to develop spoken language (aphasia), as well as those who for one reason or another have seen this ability diminished.
However, in devices that perform their function without requiring speech, it is necessary to develop a mechanism based on some form of physical movement that contemplates the use of the fingers of the hand, either to press keys or select options from a digital menu. .
While this can be of great help to people who cannot speak, those who lack this ability and are physically handicapped, i.e. in a vegetative stateit becomes a real challenge trying to create a method that makes their communication possible.
But all is not lost, as the answer could be found in the triboelectric nanogenerators. Within human-machine interfaces, triboelectric nanogenerators fulfill the function of serve as sensorsalso having the ability to be self-sufficient, thus obtaining the energy they require to continue doing their job.
Based on this principle triboelectric nanogenerators can be fabricated from materials that generate an electrical signal when exposed to the flow of air produced by respiration.
Once these triboelectric nanogenerators are manufactured, they are used to monitor variations in breathing of a person in a vegetative state in order to be aware in the event of a cardiac arrest or manifestation of sleep apnea.
Taking these aspects into account, a team of experts from Zhengzhou University in China led by Yanchao Mao took on the task of taking the capabilities of these triboelectric nanogenerators further by having them serve as channel to transmit information.
Later this information would be processed and interpreted as language based on characteristics present in the breathing of the vegetative patient, such as intensity, duration, frequency and rhythm.
It was so that in the end they managed to build a triboelectric nanogenerator integrated into a maskwhich looks similar to those used for protection against COVID-19.
Once it comes into operation this mask takes advantage of static electricity and a very fine 120 micron paper printed with carbon nanotubes to allow the patient in a vegetative state to communicate through Morse code.
A copper wire keeps the paper fixed in the middle of a channel, while one of its ends is kept clear so that it can oscillate freely.
At the moment that the air flow comes into contact with the mask, triboelectric charges which are then processed and interpreted as human language.
Despite this progress, the team will continue to make improvements and carry out the necessary protocols to bring the mask to market.
Source: link.springer.com and bioengineer.org.
