Abstract

Background and Objectives: For people who have difficulties in language, locationbased Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) mobile applications recommend AAC symbols based on their location to assist communication in daily life. Using AAC symbols available at a specific location with smart devices having small screens requires additional actions like swiping, which can be burden for [This research was supported by a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number : HJ21C0007). This research extends the poster presentation of ‘An AAC Board Hierarchy and User Interface for Communication Situation Switching in Location-Based AAC’ in ‘The 3rd East Asian Regional Conference on Augmentative and Alternative Communication: AAC Beyond Pandemic’ of Korean Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (KSAAC). Correspondence to Ki-Hyung Hong, Ph.D., Department of Service Design Engineering, Sungshin Women’s University, Seoul, Korea, e-mail: khhong@sungshin.ac.kr, tel: + 82 2 920 7525] AAC users. This study aims to make it easier for AAC users to explore symbols and improve efficiency of facilitation by reusing AAC resources. Method: We define AAC situation boards as collections of AAC symbols specifically needed for certain communication situations. Group AAC boards, on the other hand, are collections of AAC symbols that belong to the same categories. We designed a hierarchy to allow these situation and group AAC boards to be included as sub-boards in general and location AAC boards. We also developed a user interface that allows facilitators to manage AAC resources based on the hierarchy. The interface makes it easy for AAC users to select appropriate AAC symbols for the current situation through a situation-based symbol circulation and switching method. Result & Conclusion: We enhanced and expanded location and situation-based AAC mobile applications by utilizing a hierarchy of AAC resources and integrating a user interface for efficient management and utilization of these resources. To assess its usability, we conducted a user evaluation involving 44 facilitators. The results of the evaluation indicate that the location and situation-based AAC mobile application, with its ability to switch situations based on the AAC resource hierarchy, received high ratings in terms of satisfaction, convenience, and stability.

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