They developed a mask to help patients communicate in a vegetative state or in patients with severe motor difficulties. Is the solution Technological Designed for people with physical disabilities that prevent them from talking, moving or using other types of communication equipment.

The system set up can decrypt the user’s breathing patterns and translate these signals into Morse code to achieve communication. The project was implemented by researchers at Zhenzhou University and published on a specialized site ნანოძიება.

The product consists of a breathable triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), which acts as a sensor for the expression of language that occurs through human breathing.

A triboelectric effect occurs when two surfaces interfere with each other and one transmits electrons to the other, or charges them electrically. AndThis happens, for example, when the comb goes over the hair. Triboelectric nanogenerators use this principle to amplify miniature sensors.

TENG usually consists of several layers: one to release electrons, the other to hold them, and the last to receive them. In turn, there is a fourth layer that acts as a battery and is used to amplify the device with generated current.

These breathing TENGs have hitherto been used to monitor patients’ breathing or to control electrical devices. Researchers have tried to use this existing technology and bring it into communication.

They hypothesized that patients have different breathing patterns and that this information could be compiled and interpreted as a form of language. In this way they tried to create a bridge between the patient and their environment.

In the case of this development, TENG is integrated into the mask. The device is made using 3D printing resin and uses very thin paper, printed on carbon nanometers (CNTs). The paper is fixed in the channel with a tiny copper wire, which allows it to oscillate freely at its other end.

When a person wears a mask and a stream of breathing air crosses this channel, the printed paper moves, creating continuous contact and separation with the resin channel wall. Triboelectric charges are generated by this oscillation due to the different possibilities of electron attraction between CNTs and resins.

These charges act as signals that can encrypt information, as well as electric telegraphs that transmit Morse code. In the XIX century.

So when a patient wears this mask, the TENG can produce electrical signals in response to the flow of breathing air. The system can identify different types of human respiration based on intensity, length, and frequency.

This data is taken by the system and translated into Morse code. This information will then appear on the screen so that other users can thus communicate with the patient.

The developers point out that conventional devices such as cell phones, tablets or computers can help some patients communicate, but they are not enough for those who are losing physical mobility and are in the intensive care unit or even in a vegetative state. They are the ones who are purposeful in this decision.

“Compared to conventional speech expression devices, this system can extract subjective information from human breathing behaviors. And generate relevant language text that is not based on sound or physical movement, ”said the researchers.

It was possible to test the viability of the device, now the next step is to make adjustments to continue this development and evaluate its marketability.

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