Decoding speech sounds from nonverbal children
Summary
Existing technologies struggle to understand speech sounds such as moans and grunts made by nonverbal children. We are trying to collect audio, video, and brain data during home interactions with nonverbal children. This will help us develop an assistive technology to decode unintelligible speech sounds for communication.
Call to action
Does your child communicate using sounds and vocalizations? Consider participating in our research study to develop an assistive technology to understand speech sounds from nonverbal children.
Who can participate
To be eligible to participate in the study, you must:
- Be nonverbal,
- Be between 4 and 20 years old,
- Have functional hearing,
- Be able to understand and respond to spoken language (in English) by making sounds or vocalizations,
- Be able to reliably indicate yes / no,
- Have a stable comfortable seating position,
- Be able to wear an electroencephalographic (EEG) headset for at least 1 hour at a time,
- Have a family member / caregiver / friend who can speak, write, and read in English, and has the time and desire to participate in the study,
- Have reliable internet at home.
Funding agency
Data Sciences Institute (DSI Grants & Supports), University of Toronto
What's involved
The entire study can be done at home. We will ask you some basic questions about your child’s background and communication preferences over Zoom. We will then send you a laptop, camera, and an EEG headset and ask you to record interactions with your child at home. You can choose 1 hour per day when it is convenient for you to set up the equipment and record the interactions. You will be asked to record a total of 12 hours of interactions over a period of 3 to 6 weeks.
Deadline
Interested in participating
If you are interested in participating in this study or have additional questions, please contact Jason Leung at jleung@hollandbloorview.ca or 416-425-6220 x6236. Contacting us does not obligate you to participate in the study.
Additional information
Version date: March 21, 2024
eREB# 0704 - Decoding unintelligible speech: a conversational context-aware assistive technology for children with complex communication needs (prospective study)
Deadline: April 1st, 2025, or until 5 participants have been recruited.
