Speech technology for e-inclusion of people with physical disabilities and disordered speech

Abstract

Abstract Speech technology is potentially of enormous benefit to people with physical disabilities. Applications of speech technology to e-inclusion are reviewed and described in the areas of access, control, communication and rehabilitation/therapy, with particular reference to speech technology developments for people with disordered speech. To be successful, applications should effectively take into account the needs of user groups and have the ability to adapt to the needs of individuals. This is a challenging area but effective progress can be made through multi-disciplinary research and development. 1. Introduction People with physical disabilities take advantage of a variety of methods to gain access to information technology and to electronic assistive technology for communication, mobility and daily living tasks. Many of these access methods are slow and can lead to frustration, a prime example being the use of switch-activated menu scanning (hereafter referred to as switch-scanning). Automatic Speech Recognition is potentially of enormous benefit to people with severe physical disabilities. The tremendous richness of human speech communication gives the user many degrees of freedom for control and input. The speed of speech recognition also gives it a potential advantage over other input methods commonly employed by physically disabled people. People with neurological conditions causing disability often have associated dysarthria, which is the most common acquired speech disorder affecting 170 per 100,000 population [1]. This may be developmental dysarthria such as that associated with cerebral palsy or acquired dysarthria associated with progressive neurological disease (e.g. Parkinson's disease, motor neurone disease, and multiple sclerosis) or sudden onset conditions such as/or head injury. In its severest form, dysarthric speech is unintelligible to others and may take the form of producing vocal utterances, rather than words recognisable to unfamiliar communication partners. The combination of speech and general physical disability can make it particularly problematic for people to interact in their environment and can severely limit independence and inclusion. This paper examines some of the areas for e-inclusion of people with disabilities that can benefit from the use of speech technology. These areas include access, control, communication, rehabilitation and therapy. In all areas, the use of speech technology for people with dysarthric speech is particularly examined and discussed.