Assistive Medical Devices Computerized Assistive

Assistive Medical Devices

Computerized assistive device for Cerebral Palsy sufferers

Cerebral Palsy can be an extremely debilitating disease. This disease is described as a ".... non-progressive disorder of movement resulting from damage to the brain before the age of three years..." (Jones P.E.). The term cerebral palsy refers in fact to a palsy or weakness of muscle control which is a result of damage to the brain. There are varying degrees of this brain damage and levels of severity in the impairment to muscular and movement coordination in patients. The effects of Cerebral Palsy can range therefore from relatively mild impediments to total incapacity of the body. The causes of these diseases have been attributed to various factors including viruses to more physical constraints on the development of the brain. (Jones E.P.) central problem that many sufferers of this disease experience is the inability to communicate coherently. Healthy social relationships and related issues of self-esteem and self-image are largely based on the ability to communicate correctly with others. In severe cases of Cerebral Palsy the patients are often nonverbal or have severe speech impediments making communication with others extremely difficult.

Augmentative communication devices as well as assistive devices have therefore been developed to help Cerebral Palsy patients and sufferers of other diseases that retard communication skills. The most useful and effective of these devices are those that are computer operated.

In this regard speech synthesis devices are the most well-known of the computer assisted applications that are available. An example of speech synthesis is the device that the famous physicist Stephen Hawking, who has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, uses to communicate.

He is able to hold lectures and answer questions from students by crafting his responses with his device. It then speaks his words aloud for him. There is a delay involved in this communication, but that seems a small price to pay to be able to tell the world just what you are thinking..."

Communication)

This is an example of that way that computer generated speech synthesis can aid those who have problems communicating due to diseases such as Cerebral Palsy and Sclerosis. An advance in terms of speech synthesis aimed at patients with Cerebral Palsy and similar diseases has been developed by the University of Virginia. While in the past speech synthesis devices for the disabled have been somewhat erratic in operation and produced a harsh "metallic' voice, the research at the University of Virginia has improved on these. The new envisaged device is specifically designed "... To electronically reproduce sounds of the human voice and allow speech-impaired people to speak with fluidity and inflection" (Thomasson L.).