Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Advances: A Review of Configurations for Speech Disabled Individuals

Abstract

High-tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) methods are on a constant rise; however, the interaction between the user and the assistive technology is still challenged for an optimal user experience centered around the desired activity. This review presents a range of signal sensing and acquisition methods utilized in conjunction with the existing high-tech AAC platforms for speech disabled individuals, including imaging methods, touch-enabled systems, mechanical and electro-mechanical access, breath-activated methods, and brain computer interfaces (BCI). The listed AAC sensing modalities are compared in terms of ease of access, affordability, complexity, portability, and typical conversational speeds. A revelation of the associated AAC signal processing, encoding, and retrieval highlights the roles of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) in the development of intelligent AAC solutions. The demands and the affordability of most systems were found to hinder the scale of usage of high-tech AAC. Further research is indeed needed for the development of intelligent AAC applications reducing the associated costs and enhancing the portability of the solutions for a real user’s environment. The consolidation of natural language processing with current solutions also needs to be further explored for the amelioration of the conversational speeds. The recommendations for prospective advances in coming high-tech AAC are addressed in terms of developments to support mobile health communicative applications.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication and digital participation

“…Existing laws and guidelines on accessibility provide a basis, but the needs of users with communication impairments are not sufficiently or consistently taken into account. Features that increase the accessibility of digital content [e.g., text-tospeech (TTS), speech-to-text (STT), and the use of objectively understandable communication symbols (CS)] are still too rarely provided, while the rapid development of artificial intelligence suggests great progress in this regard (Elsahar et al, 2019;Sennott et al, 2019). The idea of universal design, which focuses on proactively creating accessibility for all potential user groups, needs to be much more widely adopted as a relevant mandate for stakeholders, policy makers, and society at large.…”

“…Resources available in AAC can be classified according to their technical complexity: "No-tech AAC" are endogenous resources, such as gestures, vocalizations, muscle tone etc., "low-tech AAC" are simple communication aids such as picture boards, etc., "midtech AAC" include simple electronic devices such as buttons to display messages. Of particular interest for digital participation considerations are "high-tech AAC" devices, which are dynamic devices that contain page sets of letters, words, phrases, pictures, and/or symbols that the person navigates between to compose messages (Elsahar et al, 2019). As communication tools, hightech systems can often be used for other functions and usually have interfaces with digital applications e.g., environmental control for windows, doors or E-mail program and consumer electronics (Chen et al, 2021).…”

Care Staff Perspectives on Using Mobile Technology to Support Communication in Long-Term Care: Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

“…With recent advances in mainstream technologies (eg, tablets or smartphones and their apps), there is a growing number of high-tech AAC solutions that have been developed to address a range of communication needs for people living with communication disorders [57,64]. For example, several traditional low-tech AAC tools have been adapted to high-tech formats (eg, digital communication books, digital memory books, mobile reminiscence, multimedia videos, electronic picture boards) [57,[65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72].…”