Applications of magnetometer sensors to observing bio-mechanical movements

Amorphous magnetic alloy has attracted much attention as a new material constituting a high-performance sensor or transducer for its advantages of outstanding characteristics of mechanical flexibility and electro-magnetic properties. Some of the recent developments of a non-contact magnetic sensing system consisting of amorphous magnetic wires are being utilized in our two applications to bio-medical fields. One is used for measurements of slight mechanical vibrations of eyelids, the results of which are presented in terms of a review of K. Mohri et al. (see ibid., vol. 29, no. 11, p. 3340-42, 1993) previously published work. The other is used for measuring articulatory movements of the tongue during speech. The measuring system used here improved the system previously designed by the author et al. (see ibid., vol. 29, no. 11, p. 3337-39, 1993) by a special hardware and software architecture for solving the serious problem of tilting movements of a magnetic rod on the tongue surface.<>