Annie Pugliese’s research while affiliated with University of California, Santa Cruz and other places

Individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) struggle with conditions such as dysarthria, dysphagia, and dyspraxia as they speak. While speech therapy is successful in practice, outside practice requires increased commitment and effort from caregivers. Researchers developed a speech recognition game designed to encourage out-of-office exercises and motivate users to practice. Next they recruited a participant with cerebral palsy to investigate the performance of the system in a live environment. The participant joined the game after demonstration from the caregiver and temporarily increased speech loudness and clarity during play. The participant found sound effects more rewarding than animations. The total number of sentences spoken during the session was found to be less than half that of a speaker without any impairment. Researchers also observed two instances of cheating. This work provides insight into the automated motivation of motivating speech production with individuals with cerebral palsy.