A swallowing function evaluating apparatus capable of quantitatively evaluating a swallowing function safely and repeatedly, which comprises a height variation detecting unit 10 for detecting a variation in the height of the surface of a throat from a predetermined reference position in the height direction in which a thyroid protrudes and an analyzing unit 21 for time-serially analyzing the variation to calculate an index for evaluating a swallowing function. The swallowing function evaluating apparatus can repeatedly detect the variation safely without radiating X-rays and can quantitatively evaluate the swallowing function using a calculated index.