Cleveland Family Study

13.11 Common Participant Complains

Participant is Unsure of the Pharyngometry Tube

• To explain the mouthpiece: “Have you ever gone snorkeling in a pool? This is the same mouthpiece that you would use.” or “This mouthpiece is similar to what a football player/basketball player wears.” (It helps if you know what sports the participant likes.)
• Allow participant to hold pharyngometer wave tube and put mouthpiece in and out of his mouth before beginning trials.
• Have participant practice breathing through the tube a few times.

Participant Hates the Taste of the Mouthpiece

• Participant may be afraid to say anything, so pay attention to facial expressions! Ask the subject about the taste, if it seems indicated.
• Allow participant to get up and get a drink.
• Encourage them to bring a drink back with them for the remainder of the trials to reduce further disruption.

Participant Gets Up to Spit in Sink Between Each Trial Because They Hate Taste

• Encourage them to bring a drink back with them for the remainder of the trials to reduce further disruption.

Participant Complains that the End of the Metal Tube is Hitting Their Teeth

• Make sure tube is parallel to the ground and that their neck and head are in the correct position.
• Reposition their head and neck.
• Readjust the mouthpiece on the pharyngometer.

Participant is Drooling A Lot

Problem with excessive drooling seems to be participant specific. We have found nothing to stop the drooling. We only do things to possibly reduce the amount of drooling and to make the test more comfortable for the child in spite of the problem.

• Only do one or two trials before allowing the subject to take the tube out of his/her mouth and clear some of the saliva by swallowing a few times.
• Offer a tissue if needed.

Participant Feels Out of Breath and Uncomfortable

• Doing several minutes of slow, shallow breathing can cause the subject to be out of breath.
• Take the tube out of their mouth and let them breath normally for a minute.
• Periodically instruct them to take a deep breath and blow out fast through the tube to help catch their breath.

Participant Breathes Fast Through the Tube

• Demonstrate how to breathe really slow and long breaths.
• Tell subject to watch you while you breathe with them during the trials.
• There may be an underlying problem causing the fast breathing.

Participant Continues to Breathe Through Nose When Asked to Breathe Through Mouth Only

• Subject is not allowed to hold nose closed with fingers or to use nose clips because it alters the data.
• Let subject know that although they feel like they are only breathing through their mouth, you still see simultaneous nose breathing. Encourage them to keep trying to only breathe through mouth. Give praise if it works.
• Show participant graph and describe what graph looks like with only mouth breathing compared to nasal breathing.