The development of telephone augmentative devices for the speech and hearing-impaired is recognized as an important area for investigation. Specifically, the development of a pocket-sized aid that is simple enough for children and appropriately inexpensive for lower-income individuals is seen as needing further attention. In this Phase I program, we will develop and test with the aid of trained clinicians some prototype receive-only devices for use with the telephone, identify with the aid of a programmed microcomputer the more sophisticated requirements for a more advanced device, and design and fabricate a breadboard circuit that would contain the features (including speech synthesis) into the advanced device. If the anticipated results confirm the efficacy of the device, the prototype circuit would later be improved and developed for clinical testing during Phase II. The develpment of such a simple two-way, augmentive aid for telephone usage by the speech/hearing-impaired would be of significant benefit to that segment of our society, present an opportunity for commercialization, and lower still another barrier for our handicapped citizens.
