Smart Swallows: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Dysphagia Evaluation and Treatment

Oropharyngeal dysphagia is a common and clinically important condition, especially among older adults, and is associated with significant health risks and increased demands on healthcare resources. With the rising need for dysphagia services and a concurrent shortage of speech language pathologists (SLPs), artificial intelligence (AI) represents a valuable solution for advancing the assessment, diagnosis, and management of this disorder. This narrative review synthesizes current research on the integration of AI in dysphagia care with the aim of informing SLPs, researchers, and healthcare stakeholders about the transformative potential and practical considerations of AI in advancing dysphagia care. A targeted literature search was conducted across PubMed, Google Scholar, and the ASHA Journals Academy using keywords related to AI, dysphagia, and swallowing. Current evidence highlights AI’s potential to increase diagnostic accuracy, reduce clinician workload, and provide remote, personalized therapy through tools such as biofeedback platforms and gamified interventions. Despite promising performance, key challenges remain, including interpretability of complex physiological data, limited generalizability across populations, and ethical concerns related to bias, privacy, and equitable implementation. Emerging work underscores AI’s potential to transform dysphagia care while emphasizing the need for careful, responsible integration into clinical practice.