Respiration-based human-machine interface for aphasic patients with limited physical mobility

Abstract

Communication between aphasic patients and health care professionals (HCPs) is often difficult, which is even more complex for aphasic patients with limited physical mobility. In this study, we have proposed a C60-OH/PDDA/SiO2-based humidity sensor with an extremely short response/recovery time (13 ms/30 ms). This is closely related to the electrostatic adsorption of PDDA which effectively alleviates the aggregation of C60-OH and the introduction of SiO2 microspheres which increases the diffusion space of water molecules. The fast response and recovery rates gave the sensor good respiratory monitoring capability, which can be used to develop a human–machine interface (HMI) to assist aphasic patients for semantic expression. In this HMI, aphasia patients can generate different respiratory signals through the ultrafast humidity sensors to express specific semantics (such as thirst, hunger, etc.). In contrast to traditional semantic expression devices, this interface does not require the user to have vocal or physical movement, and therefore is extremely friendly to aphasic patients with limited mobility.