Norman Alm

University of Dundee · Computing

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) methods are used to support people who have communication problems. Attempts have been made to apply AAC to assist the communication of people with cognitive impairments, including people with dementia. Two systems, CIRCA and Talking Mats, took as their starting points different types of communicatio...

The devastating effects of dementia result from cognitive degradation, in particular, working-memory (short-term memory) and planning processes. In supporting people with dementia, carers must take over these cognitive functions on behalf of the other person. This is an exhausting job. Technology may be able to offer assistance here. Its developmen...

In order for smart houses to achieve acceptance from potential beneficiaries they will need to match the users' expectation that their house is also their home, with the sense of privacy and control that this implies. Designers of this technology will need to be aware of findings in this regard from fields such as architecture and design ethnograph...

Assistive technology for cognition is technology which can be used to enable, enhance, or extend cognitive function. This book systematically examines how cutting-edge digital technologies can assist the cognitive function of people with cognitive impairments, with the potential to revolutionize rehabilitation. Technologies are reviewed which direc...

Digital video games offer opportunities for older adults with cognitive impairment to engage in meaningful activities. However, to achieve this benefit digital video games are needed that take account of the players’ cognitive impairment. This paper reports work with older adults with cognitive impairment due to dementia to find out how they can be...

Non-speaking people who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems typically have low rates of communication which reduces their ability to interact with others. Research and development continues in the quest to improve the effectiveness of AAC systems in terms of communication rate and impact. One strategy involves making the ba...

The principle of introducing a third element to a stressful communicational encounter, to which both participants can direct their attention, and which can provide prompts for communication, has a wide potential applicability. We have developed a system to support the communication of older people with dementia, which uses this principle. The appro...

Improvements in the power and portability of computing systems have made possible the field of cognitive prostheses, which attempts to make up for cognitive impairment by to some degree modeling cognitive processes in software. Research on interfacing directly with the brain is at a very early stage. However, in research into dementia care, a numbe...

Reminiscing is a positive pastime for people with dementia but little is known about selecting materials to prompt reminiscing, particularly whether personal items are more useful than generic ones. This paper reports two small studies, the first using personal stimuli (family photographs) and the second generic photographs of annual events to exam...

People with dementia who live in care homes can have very little social interaction. Care staff have limited time to spend with each person and communication difficulties can make it difficult to get to know the person with dementia as a person. This paper presents Portrait a software tool to enable care staff to get to know a person with dementia...

Progressive and irreversible cognitive impairments affect the ability of people with dementia to communicate and interact with caregivers. This places a burden on caregivers to initiate and manage interactions to the extent that they may avoid all but essential communication. CIRCA is an interactive, multimedia touch screen system that contains a w...

We detail the design, development and evalua-tion of Augmentative and Alternative Com-munication (AAC) software which encourages rapid conversational interaction. The system uses Natural Language Generation (NLG) technology to automatically generate conver-sational utterances from a domain knowledge base modelled from content suggested by a small A...

Dementia is the loss of cognitive abilities, particularly the use of working (short-term) memory, usually as a result of Alzheimer's disease or stroke. Dementia occurs primarily in older people, and while it does not affect all of them, its rate of occurrence rises steeply from about 1 in 5 of people in their 80s to 1 in 3 of those in their 90s. As...

We have developed cognitive support for people with dementia in three areas of activity : communication, entertainment and creativity. In each case the cognitive support was intended to in some way replace an effective working memory. With all three projects our findings have been a mix of expected results and surprises. We are still working out th...

The study reports an experimental evaluation of the content of computer-aided and unaided conversations on the same fairly broad topic (i.e., holidays). The computer-aided conversations involved volunteers and one of the researchers, who simulated a nonspeaking person using an alternative communication system, “TALK” (talk aid using preloaded knowl...

Dementia is a growing problem that affects the lives of those diagnosed and caregivers, with symptoms having an effect on memory, communication, the ability to learn new skills and problems with behaviour, such as aggression, agitation and depression. Participation in activities can improve quality of life for people with dementia, reducing behavio...

Older people with dementia are a particularly challenging user group to involve in the process of designing interactive systems that could assist them. It may also be difficult to involve family caregivers of people with dementia, as they are most likely to be older themselves and uncertain about technology. Paid care staff, whilst younger, may be...

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems are communication aids for people who cannot speak because of motor or cognitive impairments. We are developing AAC systems where users select information they wish to communicate, and this is ex-pressed using an NLG system. We believe this model will work well in contexts where AAC users wis...

This section aims to provide a channel of two-way communication between researchers and practitioners in the expanding field of social, psychological and nursing research in dementia care, including all aspects of nursing and care practice, communication and the environment.

The potential for technology to play a role in the care of people with dementia is increasingly being recognised. This paper describes two projects carried out by a multidisciplinary research team to develop technology to address the psychosocial needs of people with dementia. In the CIRCA project we developed an interactive multimedia computer sys...

We have been exploring a number of new ways to improve requirements gathering for new developments is assistive technology. In this paper we report on using participant observation, insights from conversation analysis and the use of actors, in order to gain a better understanding of the needs and wants for technology of people with physical and cog...

The adoption of digital television (DTV), if appropriately designed, could be particularly attractive for older people, who tend to be overlooked when new services and applications are introduced, and remain a marginalized segment of the television broadcasting population. This article explores a range of methodologies and interactive approaches de...

Increased communication rate has long been a goal of both individuals who use AAC and device manufacturers. There is evidence that utterance-based approaches have the potential to deliver faster rates without loss of coherence. An overview of the historical development of devices that embody such approaches is set out here. This account focuses on...

Cognitive prostheses interact with human cognitive abilities to extend an individual's capacity. They have application both with healthy functioning individuals and those who have suffered brain injury. In Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients experience progressive, but inconsistent deterioration across cognitive domains over the course of the illness...

As the population profile in most part of the world is more and more weighted towards older people, the incidence of dementia will continue to increase. Dementia is marked by a general cognitive decline, and in particular the impairment of working (short-term) memory. Finding ways to engage people with dementia in stimulating but safe activities wh...

The adoption of digital television (DTV) could be particularly attractive for older people if appropriately designed. This paper explores the development of a novel interaction design approach specifically to support people who are reluctant or have difficulty using desktop technologies. Using a simplified remote control, four different navigationa...

People with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) experience progressive degeneration of cognitive skills and the cumulative loss of short-term memory function. This severely impairs their ability to communicate with relatives and caregivers. The 'dehumanizing' effect that is engendered by the loss of communication skills, and the subsequent psychological and e...

The purpose of this study is to clarify how Japanese and English speakers interpret picture-based sentences. Two studies were conducted, one with adults and one with children. The main task is to interpret eight picture-based sentences in two word-order conditions, SVO and SOV. These two conditions reflect the natural word orders of Japanese and En...

This study investigated the possibility of using Information Visualisation (IV) in the user interface of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems. AAC systems exist to assist people to overcome communication handicaps. Computer-based AAC systems can contain stored communication material for people with impaired communication to retr...

This paper describes research carried out within the Queen Mother Research Centre for Information Technology to support older and disabled people and how this led to the development of an approach to research into accessibility and usability which is instantiated in the facilities of the new building.

This workshop offers the opportunity for researchers in the fields of assistive technology, cognitive psychology, user interface design and context-awareness to present the state of the art in each field and to discuss an approach and a research agenda for realizing effective cognitive prostheses.

Good interface design must take into account limits on the users' short-term memory. With conditions such as dementia, the working (short-term) memory can be so impaired as to be virtually non-operative. This present a significant challenge in designing interactive systems for people with this condition. If the difficulties can be overcome, however...

As world populations grow older the incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementia related illnesses increases (approximately 18 million sufferers worldwide). One particularly devastating effect of AD is the loss of short-term memory, which radically impairs the sufferer's ability to communicate. People with dementia, however, often retai...

Computers may have the potential to augment human cognitive processes in ways that could be beneficial for people with dementia. This possibility is being investigated by a multidisciplinary team. Previous work on improving the performance of augmentative communication systems for non-speaking people has shown the value of conversation modelling an...

The work introduced here concerns the user interface requirements of older users of e-mail. The main goal is to understand better the e-mail needs of older people, and to form a foundation for further developments in simplified and rationalised e-mail interfaces. The approach involved working closely with older computer users to establish their ess...

Caring for people with dementia will be one of the major challenges of the 21st century. Advancing technology may offer ways to augment and supplement human care, if it is sensitively designed with the needs of potential users always taken into account. Developing an interface that a person with dementia can make sense of and use is a difficult goa...

Non-speaking users of communication aids have a range of pragmatic conversational goals. These may be classified broadly as transactional or interactional and in terms of their immediacy or distance. A phrase-creation approach to the design of assistive devices may be well suited to the achievement of some transactional goals. However, assistive de...

As ventilators are becoming more highly developed, it is becoming easier to wean patients from sedation. This means that patients are more awake at a time when they can feel most stressed. Communication can be extremely difficult for this group of alert yet still intubated patients. ICU-Talk is a unique communication aid that has been developed spe...

A positive aspect of aiming for universal design is that solutions developed for people with particular needs can prove of benefit to all users. Such a case is described here. A prototype augmentative communication system has been developed which could give non-speaking people a multilingual capability. It is based on research into conversational m...

A Multi-disciplinary project staffed by personnel from nursing, computer science and speech and language therapy developed a computer based communication aid called ICU-Talk. This device has been designed specifically for intubated patients in hospital intensive care units. The ICU-Talk device was trialled with real patients. This paper reports the...

The need for intubated patients, within the intensive care setting, to communicate more effectively led to the development of ICU-Talk, an augmentative and alternative communication aid. The communication aid contains a database containing both core and patient-specific vocabulary. Many users of communication aids can provide direct input into the...

Caring for people with dementia will be one of the major challenges of the 21st century. Advancing technology may offer ways to augment and supplement human care, if it is sensitively designed with the needs of potential users always taken into account. Developing an interface that a person with dementia can make sense of and use is a difficult goa...

An abstract is not available.

Many non-speaking people use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems to assist them to communicate with other people. Access to an AAC system is generally slow for its user, who may have other disabilities as well as being non-speaking. An AAC system can contain stored words, messages and stories for use in communication, and there...

Computer-based systems that are developed to assist people with severe disabilities can often have interesting wider applications. A computer-based communication system has been developed to give non-speaking people multi-lingual capability. It is based on developments in this field in conversational modelling and utterance prediction, making use o...

This paper details the development of ICU-Talk, a computer-based communication aid. This aid has been designed specifically for patients who are temporarily unable to communicate due to intubation and/or ventilation within a hospital intensive care unit (ICU). The very specific needs of this client group have been considered by the multi-disciplina...

The proportion of the elderly population in many countries is increasing sharply. The number of elderly people who have dementia or have other difficulties and are in need of support in their daily life will correspondingly increase. Appropriately designed technology can help us to meet this challenge by providing cognitive assistance. For healthy...

Information technology is continually developing and in the last few years there has been a rapid growth in electronic telecommunications to provide Internet and other network-based services. Interest in using telecommunications to provide services to ...

A computer interview involves a program asking questions of the user, who responds by providing answers directly to the computer. Using a computer interview has been shown to be an effective method of eliciting information, and particularly personal information which many people find difficult to discuss face to face. While the simulation of some o...

ICU-Talk, a project aimed at developing communication aid for patients in an intensive care unit (ICU), is discussed. The interface of ICU-talk allows personalization by the patient, the patient some control of font size, typesize and fontspace. The initial screen show moods and depending on the mood the ordering of phrases is done. The nurses in t...

The paper highlights the development of a computerised communication aid for intubated patients in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Intubated patients in ICU have few methods of communicating other than attempting to mouth words and use gestures. Communication aids that are available, such as symbol charts and alphabet boards, unfortunately have not b...

This paper provides an overview of the major areas of research within the Department of Applied Computing at the University of Dundee. This research focuses on the areas of Interactive Communication Systems, Telecommunications and Remote Learning, Computer based Interviewing and Knowledge Elicitation, Health Informatics, Software Engineering, and D...

The concept of cognitive prosthesis, a system developed to support and augment the cognitive abilities of its user, is discussed, particularly in the context of users who have some form of cognitive loss or impairment. Relevant research issues are highlighted and research systems described, particularly in the field of augmentative and alternative...

Virtual reality technology offers a number of useful possibilities for people with disabilities. An obvious application is for those who face mobility problems to navigate around a virtual environment with minimal physical movement, allowing someone with limited motor ability the opportunity to explore virtual spaces with the same freedom of someon...

A number of picture-based communication systems are in use by nonspeaking people. They are not widely used in Japan. This may be because the systems, although pictorial in nature, tend to be based on English sentence formation. This study was conducted to provide a basis for a discussion about the use by people in non-English-speaking cultures of g...

Non-speaking people often rely on AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) devices to assist them to communicate. These AAC devices are slow to operate, however, and as a result conversations can be very difficult and frequently break down. This is especially the case when the conversation partner is unfamiliar with this method of communica...

Current communication systems for severely disabled non-speaking people still fall short of allowing them easily to effect many practical tasks, such as getting something accomplished over the telephone. Given that the accomplishment of many such tasks could be said to be `script' based, the application of a goals-plans-scripts hierarchy to augment...

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) for severely communicationally impaired people has developed with input from clinicians, users and their families, manufacturers, and researchers. A number of users of AAC are now internationally known figures. The increasing power and decreasing size and cost of computer-based technology continually...

The problems faced by people whose physical impairments include the inability to communicate through speech are demonstrated by the fact that, even with current technology, speech rates achievable using speech output devices typically vary between 2-10 words per minute. We have been investigating ways in which the communication system itself could...

Research into and development of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies is an exciting but complex field. The development of a technologically based system which will be an alternative to, or will augment, the speech modality for the interpersonal communication needs of people with communication dysfunction is not an easy tas...

The structure of computer-aided conversations obtained with a prototype system designed for use by physically handicapped, non-speaking people was investigated. The conversational aid requires speech acts suitable for use in a conversation on a fairly broad topic (e.g. holidays) to be generated by the computer user ahead of time. The potential spee...

This article describes the development, use, and initial evaluation of a prototype computer system to enable nonspeaking persons with severe disabilities to engage in conversation on broad topics. The conversational aid produced (via a voice synthesizer) speech acts that were selected from a prestored menu, which was constructed by the user. Featur...

The goal of developing completely autonomous systems, which exhibit complex behaviour and which are robust in their encounters with the real world, is an ambitious one which may not be realised totally. However, powerful and useful systems can be developed which, although requiring continuous human intervention, magnify human abilities significantl...

This paper reports the development of a computer-aided conversation prosthesis which is designed for severely physically impaired non-speaking people. The research methodology was to model aspects of conversational structure derived from the field of conversation analysis within a prototype conversational prosthesis. The prototype was evaluated in...

Research in human communication has demonstrated the negative effects of silence and of slow communication rate in the listener's attitude to a speaker, even with a speaker whose physical disabilities is an obvious cause for the slow rate of communication. The CHAT prototype demonstrates that in some of the most common conversational situations, re...

An abstract is not available.

The development of automated or semi-automated data from patients has increased because of the growing availability of computers to clinicians. Slack and his colleagues [1] demonstrated the value of this technique. The computer used could elicit medical histories which at times were fuller than those obtained during a clinical interview, and it was...

The Microcomputer Centre at the University of Dundee is involved in developing communication devices for severely physically disabled non-speaking people. Existing communication systems are suitable for message-passing, but are inadequate for enabling an approximate form of real conversation. The authors have been working on a system which views a...