Special cups – Dysphagia and level indicating

This section covers - dysphagia cups and liquid level indicating cups. For other types of cup, kitchen and dinnerware use the section menu to the left.

Dysphagia cup

A dysphagia cup is a specially designed cup that makes it easier for people with swallowing difficulties to swallow. It is based around the principle that tilting the head forwards and bringing the chin down towards the chest helps the swallowing action.

With a normal cup it becomes more and more difficult to bring the head down as the cup empties, however, the dysphagia cup has two important a design features. The first directs all of the liquid into the centre of the mouth avoiding the risk of liquid escaping from the sides of the mouth. The second benefits from a forward sloping rim that necessitate less tilting of the cup as it empties and does not result in the far lip of the cup contacting the nose as it is angled forwards.

The front of these cups and mugs may appear to have a gentle cut-away or downward slope at its front (lip contacting) side.

Dysphagia cups can come with large or elongated handles.

Liquid level indicating cup

A challenge for anyone with limited vision is that of determining the level of liquid within a cup or mug, particularly when pouring or filling.

One way of doing this is to insert a finger, however there are some devices that can offer an audible indication of the level of liquid inside a vessel.

These small devices fit over the top of the cup, mug, beaker or jug and a sensor is activated when the vessel has been filled to a suitable level.

The sensor activation triggers an audible sound, possibly with differing tones, to indicate how close the liquid is to the desired fill level.