Scientists have designed a device that can get rid of hiccups and won’t require you to hold your breath or recruit a friend to scare you: a drinking straw.
What happens when hiccups, or singultus as it’s known in the medical world, start to plague you is the sudden contraction of your diaphragm and intercostal muscles. The subsequent abrupt intake of air causes the openings between the vocal folds, also called the glottis, to shut, which results in the embarrassing (or amusing) “hic” sound to escape from within.
Most of us probably know at least a few home remedies to do away with hiccups, but now scientists are offering their “forced inspiratory suction and swallow tool,” or FISST for short. The device has been patented as HiccAway, and is a stiff L-shaped straw that has a mouthpiece at one end and an adjustable cap with a pressure valve at the other. The afflicted hiccup-er places the device into a glass of water and uses it to sip it.
The concept behind the straw is that requiring the user to ramp up their suction to draw water up through the device requires the phrenic nerve to trigger a contraction of the diaphragm, while the subsequent swallow involves activation of the vagus nerve, among others. These are the two nerves responsible for causing hiccups in the first place, so according to the researchers, keeping them otherwise occupied will prevent hiccups from continuing.
To test the straw’s effectiveness, the team analyzed responses from 249 volunteers, of which more than two-thirds reported having hiccups at least once a month. The volunteers reported the success of the device in stopping hiccups in almost 92 percent of cases. Just over 90 percent of participants found it more effective and convenient than other home remedies, while 183 of 203 participants said it gave better results. These outcomes were consistent across all demographics, hiccup frequencies, and hiccup durations.
Co-author of the study and associate professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio Dr. Ali Seifi, says, “it works instantly, and the effect stays for several hours.”
