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This paper describes the development process of a mobile Voice User Interface (VUI) for Korean users with dysarthria with currently available speech recognition technology by conducting systematic user needs analysis and applying usability testing feedback to prototype system designs.

Four usability surveys are conducted for the development of the prototype system. According to the two surveys on user needs and user experiences with existing VUI systems at the stage of the prototype design, the target platforms, and target applications are determined. Furthermore, a set of basic words is selected by the prospective users, which enables the system to be not only custom designed for dysarthric speakers but also individualized for each user. Reflecting the requests relating to general usage of the VUI and the UI design preference of users through evaluation of the initial prototype, we develop the final prototype, which is an individualized voice keyboard for mobile devices based on an isolated word recognition engine with word prediction.

The results of this paper show that target user participation in system development is effective for improving usability and satisfaction of the system, as the system is developed considering various ideas and feedback obtained in each development stage from different prospective users.

We have developed an automatic speech recognition-based mobile VUI system not only custom designed for dysarthric speakers but also individualized for each user, focussing on the usability aspect through four usability surveys. This voice keyboard system has the potential to be an assistive and alternative input method for people with speech impairment, including mild to moderate dysarthria, and people with physical disabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and evaluation of CanSpeak which is an open-source speech interface for users with dysarthria of speech. The interface can be customized by each user to map a small number of words they can speak clearly to commands in the computer system, thereby adding a new modality to their interaction.

The interface was developed in two phases: in the first phase, the authors used participatory design to engage the users and their community in the customization of the system, and in the second phase, we used a more focussed co-design methodology during which a user of the system became a co-designer by directly making new design decisions about the system.

The study showed that it is important to include assistive technology users and their community in the design and customization of technology. Participation led to increased engagement, adoption and also provided new ideas that were rooted in the experience of the user.

The co-design phase of the project provided an opportunity for the researchers to work closely with a user of their system and include her in design decisions. The study showed that by employing co-design new insights into the design domain can be revealed and incorporated into the design that might not be revealed otherwise.

This paper discusses the opinions of people who use communication aids regarding the development of a voice input voice output communication aid (VIVOCA) using speech recognition technology. It uniquely combines the views of users of communication aids with those of speech and language therapists. Semi structured questionnaires were completed by 12 users of communication aids and 34 speech and language therapists discussed the concept of a VIVOCA in three focus groups. A thematic analysis of the information was carried out. Input, output and hardware requirements are discussed leading to specifications that therapists and users perceive would be required for a VIVOCA.

Dysarthria is a neuromotor speech disorder caused by neuromuscular disturbances that affect one or more articulators resulting in unintelligible speech. Though inter-phoneme articulatory variations are well captured by formant frequency-based acoustic features, these variations are expected to be much higher for dysarthric speakers than normal. These substantial variations can be well captured by placing sensors in appropriate articulatory position. This study focuses to determine a set of articulatory sensors and parameters in order to assess articulatory dysfunctions in dysarthric speech.

The current work aims to determine significant sensors and parameters associated using motion path and correlation analyzes on the TORGO database of dysarthric speech. Among eight informative sensor channels and six parameters per channel in positional data, the sensors such as tongue middle, back and tip, lower and upper lips and parameters (y, z, φ) are found to contribute significantly toward capturing the articulatory information. Acoustic and positional data analyzes are performed to validate these identified significant sensors. Furthermore, a convolutional neural network-based classifier is developed for both phone-and word-level classification of dysarthric speech using acoustic and positional data.

The average phone error rate is observed to be lower, up to 15.54% for positional data when compared with acoustic-only data. Further, word-level classification using a combination of both acoustic and positional information is performed to study that the positional data acquired using significant sensors will boost the performance of classification even for severe dysarthric speakers.

The proposed work shows that the significant sensors and parameters can be used to assess dysfunctions in dysarthric speech effectively. The articulatory sensor data helps in better assessment than the acoustic data even for severe dysarthric speakers.

The paper is a review, for the general adult mental health practitioner, of the issues to consider when managing a mental health presentation of a person with intellectual disability (PWID). The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A neurodevelopmental model is outlined to assist practitioners in unravelling the wide range of potential factors relevant to intellectual disabilities (IDs). This includes an emphasis on complexity and interdisciplinary formulation within an individual’s context, and implications of the current policy changes.

In practice, managing the mental health of PWID can be challenging within usual mainstream services; there is more to consider than is usual for the general population.

The paper provides general mental health practitioners with a framework for a greater depth of understanding of the issues involved in the management of people with intellectual disability (ID). This includes discussion of the current policy context in ID, and some of its limitations.

The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (di George syndrome) is one of the most prevalent genetic disorders. The clinical features of the syndrome are distinct facial appearance, velopharyngeal insufficiency, conotruncal heart disease, parathyroid and immune dysfunction; however, little is known about possible neurodegenerative diseases. We describe the case of an 18-year old patient suffering from 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Since adolescence, he presented with behavioral disorders, recommended treatment with 2 mg aloperidin and he presented cervical dystonia and emergence of torticollis and trunk dystonia. Antipsychotic medications either accelerate or reveal dys-tonic symptoms.

In South Africa, many illicit drugs have only recently been introduced and drug-related complications are often new to treating physicians. Heroin-induced leukoencephalopathy has been reported elsewhere in patients who inhale heated heroin vapors, a method known as “chasing the dragon.” The purpose of this paper is to present two patients, known to have inhaled heroin a few weeks prior to presenting with progressive neurological deficits.

Case presentations: two young males presented independently within eight weeks of one another with progressive slurring of speech, incoordination and weakness of the limbs over a period of two to three weeks. Both were known heroin addicts, and were known to one another, and both had inhaled heroin prior to the onset of symptoms.

The patients presented with a pancerebellar syndrome with marked bilateral upper motor neuron signs. CT scans showed diffuse symmetrical hypodense lesions involving the cerebral and cerebellar white matter with normal CSF. Both patients deteriorated neurologically, became cardiovascularly unstable and demised. Postmortem in one of the patients showed a prominent spongiform leukoencephalopathy consistent with reports of heroin-inhalation injury to the brain.

Toxic leukoencephalopathy due to heroin vapor inhalation was first described in the Netherlands in 1982. It has not been reported to occur with other modes of heroin use; an unknown toxin contained in heroin pyrolysate which forms when heroin is heated, may be causative. Brain MRI typically shows diffuse, symmetrical white matter hyperintensities on T2 and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery sequences in the cerebellum, posterior cerebrum and posterior limbs of the internal capsule with a posterior-anterior gradient. Pathologically, spongiform degeneration with relative sparing of subcortical U-fibers is seen. No treatment has been proven effective, but antioxidants and Vitamin E may be beneficial. Mortality is high at 23-48 percent.

This report emphasizes that spongiform leukoencephalopathy as a rare consequence of inhaling heroin vapors does occur in South Africa and clinicians should consider this disorder in their differential diagnosis of acutely developing leukoencephalopathy.

An awareness program regarding this grave condition is planned.

The cardiovascular complications of patients inhaling heroin vapor has not been highlighted previously. These are the first patients from Africa described with this condition. A toxic component appears likely.

This paper provides managers and clinicians with an analysis of routine data collected by seven speech and language therapy services in the UK. Managers in seven districts in the UK of varying size and location were asked to provide information on referrals, waiting times and attendances during the six month period, and to give a breakdown of the types of intervention offered and type of clients seen. These data were aggregated and comparisons were made with existing data on speech and language therapy services. The results revealed considerable variations in prevalence, staffing ratios and client management practices. The implications for service planning are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore an Australian social worker's experiences of beginning work in the field of neurodisability in the voluntary sector in the UK.

This paper documents the social worker's experiences of the differences in practice between Australia and the UK; between working in the statutory and voluntary sector in the UK; and between different fields of social work. It also documents the social worker's initial thoughts about working in the field of acquired brain injury (ABI).

Through this journey, the social worker reflects upon their own development as a practitioner.

The social worker identifies points which may help other social work professionals who are new to this complex area of practice.

This paper provides an insight into a social worker's experience of working in different settings and in different countries. It also illustrates how for this social worker, varied experiences cannot always prepare you for working in ABI.