Straw Drinking

James L. Coyle, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BRS-S
(Communication Science and Disorders
University of Pittsburgh) writes:

Stephanie Daniels and her colleagues published an interesting article on straw drinking in normals a few years back that describes three distinct patterns of straw-drinking. I don’t know if straw drinking in patients has been investigated and I am pretty sure that what goes on in the oral cavity has received little attention. This brings up an interesting observation (my own so take it for what it’s worth, and it is something that would make a great study).

Ask yourself this question and answer it: “how do humans establish the intraoral pressure necessary to draw liquid into the mouth through a straw?” before reading on.

Most people that I have asked (mostly students, nursing personnel and other SLP’s), when asked reply that it is through inhalation. In fact, to do so requires tight closure of the linguapalatal valve (tongue base to soft palate through palatoglossus muscles) together with retraction and depression of the anterior tongue and mandible depression (all together), which increases oral cavity volume and thereby decreases intraoral pressure, drawing in the liquid. Try it and attend to what your “parts” are doing.

Arguably, in some cases in which good linguapalatal closure is apparent (evidence: clinical assessment of oral facial sensorimotor function and speech production) and patient has a patent nasal cavity and nasopharynx for ventilation, the use of a straw might be (opinion here – no hard evidence to support) considered beneficial to some individuals who exhibit posterior oral containment impairments with liquids by forcing linguapalatal contact during the oral preparatory and early oral transit stages. I have used this logic successfully in some cases.

If linguapalatal closure is not adequate or evident then indeed inhalation will be used and the bolus directed to the airway.


Daniels, S. K., Corey, D. M., Hadskey, L. D., Legendre, C., Priestly, D. H., Rosenbek, J. C. et al. (2004). Mechanism of sequential swallowing during straw drinking in healthy young and older adults. Journal of Speech Language & Hearing Research, 47, 33-45.

Daniels, S.K. & Foundas, A. L. (2001). Swallowing physiology of sequential straw drinking. Dysphagia, 16, 176-182.