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Objectives : Facial nerve palsy causes blurred vision and ocular discomfort due to deficits in blinking and eye closure. The objective of this study was to determine whether eye-blinks could be elicited by electrical stimulation and whether electrically induced blink would have an effect on the visual acuity and ocular symptoms in patients with acute facial nerve palsy. Methods : The zygomatic branch of the facial nerve of fifteen participants with acute facial nerve palsy was electrically stimulated in order to elicit a blink. In successful cases, the participant proceeded with a two-hour TV watching session in which an electrically induced blink was delivered every 5 seconds. The control condition consisted of an otherwise similar TV watching session without electrically induced blinking. Subjective ocular symptoms were evaluated with a Dry Eye Questionnaire and visual acuity was assessed with a Logarithm of the Minimum Angle of Resolution (LogMAR) chart before and after both sessions. Results : The stimulation produced a blink in 8 participants (53%). The visual acuity in the affected eye decreased during the control session, whereas no significant change occurred during the stimulation session. The ocular symptoms were significantly reduced during the stimulation session. Conclusions : Electrically elicited blink is a promising method for reducing the eye symptoms in individuals with acute facial nerve palsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Transcutaneous facial muscle stimulations of healthy participants (N=24) were investigated. • Visually observable movement of the forehead and the lower lip was achieved in all participants. Stimulation of a smile was more challenging. • Stimulations evoking small movements were rated as relatively pleasant and tolerable. • Complete eye blink was achieved in 22 participants, and the sensation was rated mainly as tolerable. • The results encourage developing further facial pacing technology, which can offer a new treatment option for patients with facial paralysis. Abstract The present aim was to investigate transcutaneous facial muscle stimulation in order to take further steps in developing facial pacing technology, which can offer a new treatment option for patients with unilateral facial paralysis. This technology ultimately measures muscle activations from one side of the face and simultaneously activates the corresponding muscles of the other side with electrical stimulation. Four facial muscle locations— frontalis , orbicularis oculi , zygomaticus major , and orbicularis oris —of the healthy participants (N = 24) were stimulated to produce an eyebrow raise, eye blink, smile, and lip pucker, respectively. The results showed that a visually observable movement of the forehead and the lower lip was achieved in all participants. On average, the stimulations at the movement threshold were rated as tolerable in terms of pain ratings and neutral in terms of pleasantness ratings. Complete eye blink was achieved in 22 participants, and most did not experience painful sensations. The stimulation of the cheek evoked observable movement in 23 participants, but the stimulation also often resulted in concurrent activation of the eye, mouth, and nose area. The results suggest that transcutaneous stimulation seems to be a promising method for developing further facial pacing technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Frontalis of 12 participants was transcutaneously stimulated using four waveforms. • All the waveforms produced movements equally successfully. • Discomfort ratings did not differ either, but some individual preferences did exist. • There was a linear relation between the stimulation amplitudes and evoked movement. Facial pacing systems aim to reanimate paralyzed facial muscles with electrical stimulation. To aid the development of such systems, the frontalis muscle responsible for eyebrow raising was transcutaneously stimulated in 12 healthy participants using four waveforms: square wave, square wavelet, sine wave, and sinusoidal wavelet. The aim was to investigate the effects of the waveform on muscle activation magnitude, perceived discomfort, and the relationship between the stimulus signal amplitude and the magnitude of evoked movement. The magnitude of movement was measured offline using video recordings and compared to the magnitude of maximum voluntary movement (MVM) of eyebrows. Results showed that stimulations evoked forehead movement at a magnitude comparable to the MVM in 67% of the participants and close to comparable (80% of the MVM) in 92%. All the waveforms were equally successful in evoking movements. Perceived discomfort did not differ between the waveforms in relation to the movement magnitude, but some individual preferences did exist. Further, regression analysis showed a statistically significant linear relation between stimulation amplitudes and the evoked movement in 98% of the cases. As the waveforms performed equally well in evoking muscle activity, the waveform in pacing systems could be selected by emphasizing technical aspects such as the possibility to suppress stimulation artifacts from simultaneous electromyography measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]