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Towards a prosthetic face: design a human-machine interfacing strategy for restoring sensorimotor functions in facial paralysis
Facial expression plays an important role in human communication, providing a variety of non-verbal cues. Neural stimulation and recording can be used to restore facial functions and improve quality of life of people with facial paralysis.
Facial paralysis can be a result of a developmental anomaly or injury affecting the facial nerve, facial muscles, or both. The lost ability to animate the face can be devastating and is often associated with social isolation and reduced quality of life[1]. In addition to these psychosocial penalties, facial paralysis significantly impairs essential facial functions, including blinking, protection of the cornea, lip competence and speech, smiling, and breathing.
Neurostimulation can be user to target facial muscles such as the orbicularis oculi muscle that control eye blinking[2], [3] as well as the facial nerve that can maintain overall facial muscle tone[4], [5]. The development of a wearable system to restore facial muscle tone and control eye blinks would take vital steps towards being able to implement and test the effectiveness of this therapy in patients.
References:
[1] L. Ishii, A. Godoy, C. O. Encarnacion, P. J. Byrne, K. D. O. Boahene, and M. Ishii, “Not just another face in the crowd: Society’s perceptions of facial paralysis,” Laryngoscope, vol. 122, no. 3, pp. 533–538, 2012, doi: 10.1002/lary.22481.
[2] D. McDonnall, K. S. Guillory, and M. D. Gossman, “Restoration of blink in facial paralysis patients using FES,” 2009 4th Int. IEEE/EMBS Conf. Neural Eng. NER ’09, pp. 76–79, 2009, doi: 10.1109/NER.2009.5109238.
[3] Cervera-Negueruela M, Chee L, Cimolato A, Valle G, Tschopp M, Menke M, Papazoglou A, Raspopovic S. Bionic blink improves real-time eye closure in unilateral facial paralysis. J Neural Eng. 2024 Apr 2;21(2). doi: 10.1088/1741-2552/ad35e7. PMID: 38507808.
[4] E. Mäkelä et al., “Facial muscle reanimation by transcutaneous electrical stimulation for peripheral facial nerve palsy,” J. Med. Eng. Technol., vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 155–164, 2019, doi: 10.1080/03091902.2019.1637470.
[5] F. Tuncay, Pn. Borman, B. Tasser, I. Ünlü, and E. Samim, “Role of electrical stimulation added to conventional therapy in patients with idiopathic facial (Bell) palsy,” Am. J. Phys. Med. Rehabil., vol. 94, no. 3, pp. 222–228, 2015, doi: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000000171.
Facial paralysis can be a result of a developmental anomaly or injury affecting the facial nerve, facial muscles, or both. The lost ability to animate the face can be devastating and is often associated with social isolation and reduced quality of life[1]. In addition to these psychosocial penalties, facial paralysis significantly impairs essential facial functions, including blinking, protection of the cornea, lip competence and speech, smiling, and breathing. Neurostimulation can be user to target facial muscles such as the orbicularis oculi muscle that control eye blinking[2], [3] as well as the facial nerve that can maintain overall facial muscle tone[4], [5]. The development of a wearable system to restore facial muscle tone and control eye blinks would take vital steps towards being able to implement and test the effectiveness of this therapy in patients.
References: [1] L. Ishii, A. Godoy, C. O. Encarnacion, P. J. Byrne, K. D. O. Boahene, and M. Ishii, “Not just another face in the crowd: Society’s perceptions of facial paralysis,” Laryngoscope, vol. 122, no. 3, pp. 533–538, 2012, doi: 10.1002/lary.22481. [2] D. McDonnall, K. S. Guillory, and M. D. Gossman, “Restoration of blink in facial paralysis patients using FES,” 2009 4th Int. IEEE/EMBS Conf. Neural Eng. NER ’09, pp. 76–79, 2009, doi: 10.1109/NER.2009.5109238. [3] Cervera-Negueruela M, Chee L, Cimolato A, Valle G, Tschopp M, Menke M, Papazoglou A, Raspopovic S. Bionic blink improves real-time eye closure in unilateral facial paralysis. J Neural Eng. 2024 Apr 2;21(2). doi: 10.1088/1741-2552/ad35e7. PMID: 38507808. [4] E. Mäkelä et al., “Facial muscle reanimation by transcutaneous electrical stimulation for peripheral facial nerve palsy,” J. Med. Eng. Technol., vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 155–164, 2019, doi: 10.1080/03091902.2019.1637470. [5] F. Tuncay, Pn. Borman, B. Tasser, I. Ünlü, and E. Samim, “Role of electrical stimulation added to conventional therapy in patients with idiopathic facial (Bell) palsy,” Am. J. Phys. Med. Rehabil., vol. 94, no. 3, pp. 222–228, 2015, doi: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000000171.
The student will be guided in understanding the concepts of neurostimulation, neural recording as well as the effects of facial paralysis. They will also be introduced to state of the art of neuroprostheses with scientific literature readings, and our developed sensory-feedback system.
The major goals (mandatory) for the student will be:
1. Design a target neural interfacing strategy for restoring sensory functions in facial paralysis
2. Design a target neural interfacing strategy for restoring motor functions in facial paralysis
3. Develop an electrode placement system for facial nerves and muscle reanimation to maintain facial muscle tone + software
4. Develop an electrode placement system for restoring eye blinks, lips movements and sensations.
5. Designing an intelligent system for a closed loop system
6. Test on volunteers to obtain a statistical meaningful description of cause-effect
Recommended skills: knowledge of C++, C, CAD, Peripheral nerve neurophysiology.
Extra skills: Qt programming, multithread applications.
Time effort required: Master project full time
The student will be guided in understanding the concepts of neurostimulation, neural recording as well as the effects of facial paralysis. They will also be introduced to state of the art of neuroprostheses with scientific literature readings, and our developed sensory-feedback system. The major goals (mandatory) for the student will be: 1. Design a target neural interfacing strategy for restoring sensory functions in facial paralysis 2. Design a target neural interfacing strategy for restoring motor functions in facial paralysis 3. Develop an electrode placement system for facial nerves and muscle reanimation to maintain facial muscle tone + software 4. Develop an electrode placement system for restoring eye blinks, lips movements and sensations. 5. Designing an intelligent system for a closed loop system 6. Test on volunteers to obtain a statistical meaningful description of cause-effect Recommended skills: knowledge of C++, C, CAD, Peripheral nerve neurophysiology. Extra skills: Qt programming, multithread applications. Time effort required: Master project full time
Dr. Giacomo Valle, Assistant Professor, Head of Neural Bionics laboratory, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Email: valleg@chalmers.se
Dr. Guido Gabriele, MD, Professor at Università degli Studi di Siena, maxillofacial and lymphatic surgeon, Email: guido.gabriele@unisi.it
Dr. Giacomo Valle, Assistant Professor, Head of Neural Bionics laboratory, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden Email: valleg@chalmers.se Dr. Guido Gabriele, MD, Professor at Università degli Studi di Siena, maxillofacial and lymphatic surgeon, Email: guido.gabriele@unisi.it
