An Intra-Oral Interface to Affect a Taste Change Continuously by Using Electrical Stimulation with Periodic Intervals

Recently, increasing attention has been paid to the health impacts and lifestyle diseases due to the excessive intake of salt and sugar. To address this problem, there have been studies to control taste by the electrical stimulation of food and drink through tableware. However, it is not possible to realize a change of taste during the chewing food and drinking with this approach. Therefore, we consider that a change of taste is also required during chewing in order to achieve satisfied consumption. In this study, we develop an intra-oral interface to effect a taste change continuously by using electrical stimulation. We performed preliminary experiments to measure the sensitivity of the tongue by the position and area of an electrode. Then, we developed an interface to take into account the results of the experiments. We confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed interface through experiments examining the intensity of taste when using the developed interface. Moreover, by having periodic intervals to electrical stimulation by the PWM control, the proposed interface was confirmed to improve the intensity of taste continuously.