An efficient package for augmenting the communication of individuals with speech and motor impairments, based on the hand-held computers known as personal digital assistants (PDA s) is proposed. A PDA-based communicator would provide an inexpensive and truly portable alternative to the relatively inefficient and costly commercial systems currently available. The proposed configuration will employ a pared-down version of the Integrated Modifiable Package of Augmentative Communication Technologies (IMPACT), a sophisticated PC-based program that incorporates a variety of established and proprietary techniques for enhancing communication. IMPACT employs prediction engines that exploit the redundancy of written language, embedded within a reconfigurable graphical interface structure which makes possible several innovative accelerative communication techniques. After investigating the available platforms and selecting the most appropriate, a reduced version of IMPACT will be defined, ported to the PDA, and evaluated. The portable implementation will require minor sacrifices in functionality, due to the simplified PDA microprocessor and reduce memory, but the advanced augmentative techniques of IMPACT will still yield an effective communication device. This will formally established thorough a thorough functional evaluation regime, followed by empirical usability trials. To expand the basic test production capabilities of the communicator, a speech synthesizer peripheral will be integrated into the design.
The PDA communicator is targeted at the millions of mobile individuals with disabilities that prevent both speech and writing, providing augmented communication in an inexpensive and convenient package. Secondary applications include portable speech production for persons with only speech and/or hearing impairments, predictive keyboard emulation for entry of text and data into PDA s, and development of communication skills for those with learning disabilities.
