Balance therapy translingual electrical stimulation system
Definition
An assembly of electronic devices intended to electrically stimulate the tongue during physical therapy to help rehabilitate body balance, and sometimes gait. The device may: 1) provide biofeedback for training of balance by sensing body movements and producing signals translated into electrical stimuli applied to the tongue enabling a patient to correlate electrotactile stimulation with head/body position; or 2) combine sensorimotor activity with tongue stimulation to modulate brain activity (neuromodulation), via the trigeminal nerve, and treat chronic balance/gait deficits. It consists primarily of a wearable pulse generator/controller and connected electrode array applied to the tongue.