Speech difficulties? IIT-Bombay app helps you communicate
An
icon of an orange juice matched with a happy face means “I like orange juice”
Likewise, one with a sad face means “I don’t like orange juice”. This is how
people with speech difficulties can now communicate using images via a free app
developed by the Industrial Design Centre (IDC) of the Indian Institute of
Technology – Bombay (IIT-B).
The
app, called Jellow Communicator, can be used by children with cerebral palsy,
autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome and brain injury, and adults who have
lost their speech to a stroke.
The
idea to develop such an app originated in 2004 for children with cerebral
palsy. “Children with cerebral palsy have speech problems, and that affects
their ability to communicate and this blocks all channels of learning. It
affects social, cognitive and motor development,” said Sudha Srinivasan,
post-doctoral fellow, IDC, and paediatric speech therapist, who provided
clinical content for the app.
Initially,
it was conceptualized as a hardware device with each piece costing around
Rs13,000. “But it turned out to be expensive. And with mobile phones getting
cheaper, the idea then moved on to developing a free app instead of carrying a
device,” said professor Ravi Poovaiah, IDC.
Over
the last two years, an interdisciplinary team of therapists, graphic designers,
software programmers and animators at the IDC School of Design worked on
developing the app. Around 8,200 lines of pre-programmed vocabulary each in
English and Hindi enables users to communicate what they’d like to eat for
breakfast – from eggs and bread to upma and dosa – or learn about animals and
birds through the Google text-to-speech converter app available on playstore. A
keyboard feature in the app enables the app to speak out custom-typed
sentences. The content, icons and accent of the app are developed bearing in
mind the socio-cultural context of India.
The
app can also be used by children who are learning to speak to communicate daily
activities such as brushing, going to the toilet and bathing. “Toddlers now are
interested in mobiles. So when they explore the app, seeing the images and
hearing the sounds associated with it will help them improve their vocabulary,”
said Srinivasan.
The
team is now collecting data to document the app’s effectiveness, improve it
based on user feedback. Next, the vocabulary will be available in Bengali and
Marathi. “We are waiting for Google text-to-speech engines to be available in
other languages to translate the pre-programmee vocabulary,” said Srinivasan.
Source
| Hindustan Times | 17 January 2017
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
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