China
Africa
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Digital Communication and Social Media for People with Communicative and Cognitive Disabilities
Published in Christopher M. Hayre, Dave J. Muller, Marcia J. Scherer, Everyday Technologies in Healthcare, 2019
Margret Buchholz, Ulrika Ferm, Kristina Holmgren
Our research point at speech synthesis as a beneficial function. It was described as a major prerequisite for constructing and reading messages that should be available in all remote communication applications. This finding is in line with previous research (Mattsson Müller et al., 2010). Speech synthesis has gone from expensive assistive technology to a standard function in off-the-shelf devices, on webpages and in standard software and is today aiming for a more natural and personalised voice (Mills et al., 2014). Hopefully, this development can increase access to speech synthesis for those who need it.
Historical Perspectives and Technological Breakthroughs
Published in Harry F. Tibbals, Medical Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine, 2017
There is an inseparable relationship between advances in science and technology and advances in medicine. Understanding the mechanisms of charge transfer in the process of photosynthesis and energetics of cellular metabolism led to breakthroughs in photoelectric engineering and solar power generation. The study of human speech and hearing development had impacts on computer speech synthesis and recognition. Investigation of the world based on nanotechnology generates new tools for application in medical practice, resulting in new understanding of health and disease. Many nanoscale technology and science developments were the result of biological experiments, and nanotechnology has always been readily applied to the investigation of biological phenomena.
Imitating dysphonic voice: a suitable technique to create speech stimuli for spoken language processing tasks?
Published in Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 2020
Isabel S. Schiller, Angélique Remacle, Dominique Morsomme
Finally, speech synthesis could be a way to generate different voice qualities for listening tasks. Compared to the three methods presented above, speech synthesis would offer the highest control of voice parameters over time. Distinct voice characteristics could be manipulated to obtain the voice quality of interest for the listening experiment. In the context of dysphonic voice creation, speech synthesis has primarily been performed on sustained vowels [18–26] or vowel combinations [22,27]. To our knowledge, synthesis of dysphonic voice in connected speech has only been performed by Yiu and colleagues [28,29], who addressed the problem of limited naturalness of the samples [29]. To assess the effect of dysphonic voice on spoken language processing, researchers require dysphonic samples of connected speech which sound natural. It seems that speech synthesis technology cannot yet respond to that need.
An alternative perspective on assistive technology: The person–environment–tool (PET) model
Published in Assistive Technology, 2020
Gustav Jarl, Lars-Olov Lundqvist
In the development and commercialization of technology, most manufacturers historically have focused on either AT or MST but seldom both. Despite this separation, there are numerous examples of spillover effects, where developments within the AT field have benefitted people without disability and developments within the MST field have benefitted people with disabilities (Bauer & Lane, 2006; Mueller, 1998; Nicolau, 2012; van Woerden, 2006). For example, cell phones with speech recognition for command and control are examples of MST that are also useful as AT (van Woerden, 2006). Equally, text-to-speech synthesis systems that were developed for partially sighted people have now been applied in MST too (Jack, 2017). Thus, technological developments blur the definition of AT (Vanderheiden, 2007). Unfortunately, the technological developments do not seem to have substantially changed the established perspective on AT.
The evidence-base for computer-based speech therapy for childhood speech sound disorders is somewhat limited1
Published in Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention, 2019
Future research in this area needs to incorporate more stringent experimental control and employ designs that enable investigators to make stronger statements about the efficacy of CBST. In addition, there needs to be a comparison among the different CBST programs and the mobile applications that are currently available to practitioners. As this technology continues to develop, there also needs to be a cooperative effort between SLPs and software engineers, so that improved speech synthesis and recognition capabilities are available for further improvement of existing programs and development of new initiatives. These proposed enhancements coupled with continued experimental scrutiny will lead hopefully to the availability of improved service delivery for children with SSD in instances where traditional treatment by an SLP is either restricted or nonexistant.