In the links provided below, you will find instructions for measuring peak hyoid position. Please note that a recent study from our lab (Smaoui et al., 2022) explored the relationship between impaired airway protection (i.e., penetration-aspiration) and reduced hyoid movement (i.e., reduced peak XY hyoid position and/or reduced XY hyoid speed). Although this study did find associations between reduced hyoid movement, these associations were weak and were not nearly as important as incomplete or late laryngeal vestibule closure (LVC). Therefore, we encourage both clinicians and dysphagia researchers to explore impairment in LVC as a first step in determining the mechanisms behind penetration and aspiration.If you do wish to measure hyoid movement, research from our lab suggests that measurement of a single point (peak position), relative to a fixed point on the spine (anterior inferior corner of the C4 vertebra), is adequate for capturing variations in hyoid movement during swallowing across different conditions.These measurements are described in a recent publication: Molfenter, S. M. & Steele, C. M. (2014). Use of an anatomical scalar to control for sex-based size differences in measures of hyoid excursion during swallowing. Journal of Speech-Language Hearing Research. DOI:10.1044/2014_JSLHR-S-13-0152Links to instructions and an excel-based calculation sheet are below:
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Updated January 3, 2023