An innovative serious game for the detection and rehabilitation of oral-facial malfunction in children: a pilot study

Abstract

We present SONRIE, a serious game based on virtual reality and comprising four games which act as tests where children must perform gestures in order to progress through several screens (raising eyebrows, kissing, blowing, and smiling). The aims of this pilot study were to evaluate the overall acceptance of the game and the capacity for detecting anomalies in motor execution and, lastly, to establish motor control benchmarks in orofacial muscles. For this purpose, tests were performed in school settings with 96 typically developing children aged between five and seven years. Regarding the different games, in the kissing game, children were able to execute the correct movement at six years of age and a precise movement at the age of seven years. Blowing actions required more maturity, starting from the age of five and achievable by the age of six years. The smiling game was performed correctly among all ages evaluated. The percentage of children who mastered this gesture with both precision and speed was progressively greater reaching more than 75% of values above 100 for children aged seven years. SONRIE was accepted enthusiastically among the population under study. In the future, SONRIE could be used as a tool for detecting difficulties regarding self-control and for influencing performance and the ability to produce fine-tuned facial movements.