Dynamic infant oral-motor assessment and feedback

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for use in conjunction with a monitoring device configured to couple to a baby bottle and a nipple, the monitoring device comprising a set of sensors configured to perform measurements associated with feeding, the computer-readable storage medium configured to store program instructions that, when executed by the monitoring device, causes the monitoring device to perform one or more operations comprising:

• performing, using the set of sensors, the measurements associated with the feeding while a baby is performing the feeding, wherein the measurements are associated with sucking, swallowing and breathing by the baby, and wherein the set of sensors comprise an acoustic sensor and an inertial measurement unit, a pressure sensor, or both, and the measurements comprise measurements in an acoustic band of frequencies between 50-20,000 Hz;
• and
• dynamically providing feedback based at least in part on a modal decomposition of mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) corresponding to at least a portion of the measurements and an output from a pretrained neural network that uses the measurements as an input, wherein the modal decomposition comprises variational mode decomposition (VMD) of at least the portion of the measurements, wherein the feedback comprises:
• when to dynamically pause the feeding, a change to a flow rate during the feeding, a change to a size of a nipple, a change to a size of a baby bottle, a change to promote stronger sucking by the baby, a change to an anatomical position of the baby during the feeding, a recommendation for a swallowing study, a recommendation for the baby to use a pacifier between instances of the feeding, diagnostic information about a possible tongue-tie, diagnostic information about possible excessive air swallowing into the stomach or a recommendation for additional therapy for the baby.

A method for providing feedback, comprising:

• by a monitoring device coupled to a baby bottle and a nipple, the monitoring device comprising a set of sensors that perform measurements associated with feeding:
• performing, using the set of sensors, the measurements associated with the feeding while a baby is performing the feeding, wherein the measurements are associated with sucking, swallowing and breathing by the baby, and wherein the set of sensors comprise an acoustic sensor and an inertial measurement unit, a pressure sensor, or both, and the measurements comprise measurements in an acoustic band of frequencies between 50-20,000 Hz;
• and
• dynamically providing feedback based at least in part on a modal decomposition of mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) corresponding to at least a portion of the measurements and an output from a pretrained neural network that uses the measurements as an input, wherein the modal decomposition comprises variational mode decomposition (VMD) of at least the portion of the measurements, wherein the feedback comprises:
• when to dynamically pause the feeding, a change to a flow rate during the feeding, a change to a size of a nipple, a change to a size of a baby bottle, a change to promote stronger sucking by the baby, a change to an anatomical position of the baby during the feeding, a recommendation for a swallowing study, a recommendation for the baby to use a pacifier between instances of the feeding, diagnostic information about a possible tongue-tie, diagnostic information about possible excessive air swallowing into the stomach or a recommendation for additional therapy for the baby.