Assistive Technology

With apologies to science fiction writer Phillip Dick, do you dream of humanoid robots? Do robots with artificial intelligence strike your fancy? Once programmed with all the necessary algorithms, humanoid robots will care for you, administer medication when needed, and prevent harm from coming to you. They will require no tolietry, bathing, or feeding. They will be obedient. They will be strong enough to carry you and intelligent enough to retrieve any object. They will be odorless and will not cause allergies. They will talk to you and try to make you laugh if you wish.

If you have a specific physical disability, humanoid robots will be programmed to mitigate that disability. If you have a specific mental disability, humanoid robots may help you adjust and, if necessary, the robots may be programmed to detect, identify, and respond to any abnormal behavior to influence positive outcomes.

You may be wondering, “Could it happen?” This is the wrong question. Because it is already happening. Scientists have been working on humanoid robots for many years. The right question is, “When will I get one?” Or: “Do I want one?”

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Listen:  Can you hear the goldfish swim in the water?

Caption: A headset is placed over a fishbowl while a lone goldfish swims around.

Listen:  Can you hear the mosquito ringtone?

The point I am trying to make is that not everyone has good hearing and some people are unable to hear anything at all. Most of  us who fall under this category rely on sight. The deaf and profoundly hard of hearing are visual people who often depend on their eyes to understand and interact with the world.

In 2005, a married deaf couple with four hearing children slept inside their apartment in Texas. A fire that started from a faulty power strip began roaring and smoke filled the apartment. The fire alarms rang, but the deaf couple could not hear it. The alarms were not even loud enough to wake up the children. In the end, only the husband and two children survived.  To read more about this tragic, see this news report.

If a visual fire alarm had been installed in the apartment, the chances of entire family surviving the fire would have been much greater.

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The different coins in your pockets are distinguishable by size, thickness, weight, and sometimes by color.  The bills in your wallet, on the other hand, are the same shape, same color, and same size.

Caption: Photo of a $1 bill

Over the years, I have read about blind and visually impaired people who blog or comment about how difficult it is to distinguish currency notes.

Virtually all of them have developed a system for distinguishing notes: $1 notes are unfolded, $5 notes are folded left-to-right, $10 notes are folded top-to-bottom, and so forth. This is a slow and cumbersome way of keeping track of notes.  Before the bills are folded, it is necessary for blind persons to ask someone else to verify that this bill is indeed $1 and that bill is indeed $10. (Of course, we hope that in relying on the kindness of strangers, the blind are not cheated in the process.) Those with money could choose to shell out $200.00 for a pocket computer that will announce the denominations of US paper currency. Those with low vision can purchase a high powered magnifier to distinguish one denomination from the other.

But is any of this really necessary? Why not just make it simple and ask the Treasury Department to design the notes in a way that blind and visually impaired people will be able to distinguish one note from another?

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There can be no question that software applications for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch have become very sophisticated. Many of these apps have given people with disabilities a voice and the means to become more independent. Applications and systems that assist people with speech disorders are commonly referred to as “augmentative and alternative communication” (AAC). Augmentative communication applications help people who have little or unintelligible speech. Alternative communication applications help people who have no speech abilities.

Caption: A photo of Proloquo2go icons on an iPod Touch. Photo courtesy of Proloquo2go. Copyright © 2009 Tommy Reynolds & Jaime Alvarez of Fat Bird Studios.

A week ago, the New York Times published Insurers Fight Speech Impairment Remedy, a story about a mother with Lou Gehrig’s disease (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) who is speech impaired and requires an AAC device to communicate. Medicare, however, would rather cover the cost of an $8,000 “clunky” AAC computer than a $300 iPhone running a $200 AAC app (such as Proloquo2go) that would help the mother communicate. (For a follow-up story to the original New York Times article, see Text-to-Speech Technology Reaches an Inflection Point.) Bloggers like RangelMD, Prince McLean, and MobiHealthNews, and netizens who use Twitter, are engaging in a conversation about this story, correctly observing the relationship between emerging technologies, the need for health care reform, and the importance of monitoring fraud.

All things being equal, Medicare and insurance companies should not be faced with the “difficult” choice of picking a $200 AAC app on top of a multi-functional device (like the Apple iPod Touch) that costs approximately $200 over a uni-functional device that costs $8,000. From a taxpayer’s perspective, the choice is clear. Since Medicare (and some private health insurance companies) will only pay 80% of the cost of the device, the choice is also clear for the patient who must pay the remaining 20%.

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Caption: Photo of the Apple iPhone

One of the great things about the Apple iPhone is that users can download many fun and useful applications that are easy to use and serve specific purposes. Apple’s iPhone Dev Center allows computer programmers around the world to develop iPhone applications for any specific purpose and share it with others for free (or for a fee). The iPhone is less than 3 years old (it was first released in January 9, 2007 according to Wikipedia), and many iPhone developers have created apps for people with various disabilities to help them be more independent. What follows is by no means an exhaustive list:

For the blind and visually impaired:

• AccessTech News has compiled an outstanding list of iPhone applications that will work with VoiceOver.
• While it’s still under development, the folks at Velti recently reported that scientists at iVisit have designed an iPhone app that will “recognize a variety of everyday objects.”
• Although it’s not quite a standalone app, Bruno Fosi designed a Silicon iPhone touch case that provides tactile feedback.  No word when exactly it’ll be launched on the market.

For children with autism or developmental delays:

• Proloquo2Go is a “natural sounding text to speech” app.
• iConverse “displays 6 different icons that represent a person’s most basic needs. When activated by touch, the icons give both an auditory and visual representation of the specific want or need.” This is reviewed in Scothoser’s Corner.
• iCommunicate is an app that develops a storyboard, which is “a collection of pictures that convey a concept.”
• iReward is designed to reinforce a certain behavior by providing motivation and a reward, e.g., a gold star, a new toy, etc.

For individuals with speech disorders:

• Locabulary appears to be a text-to-speech app that is based on your GPS location.
• Proloquo2Go is a “natural sounding text to speech” iPhone app.

For the Deaf and hard-of-hearing:

• Tunewiki is a fantastic (and free) app works like closed captioning for radio. When a song plays on the radio, a small box at the bottom of the screen shows the lyrics, line by line. Note: the lyrics will only scroll appropriately at the beginning of each song. If you switch stations to the middle of the song, the lyrics will appear, but it will not point to the appropriate line until the beginning of the next song.
• Imagine turning your iPhone into a hearing aid. The purpose of SoundAMP, Amplitude, and iHearClear are to amplify sound. (To read a written review about SoundAMP, see TechCrunch. Reviews about Amplitude may be found at the AppleInsider and the The Apple Blog.)
• iPhone users who are just learning American Sign Language can learn over 800 words in ASL with iSign. A good review of this app and an explanation of iSign’s limits may be found at ATMac.
• While it’s not an iPhone app, it’s worth mentioning that AT&T is offering a discounted plan for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. The plan is $40 per month and includes unlimited SMS messages, unlimited data usage, and Visual VoiceMail. For the link and more info, see The Boy Genius Report. As reported in Gizmodo, there is apparently an “eligibility application” to qualify for the discount.

For the dexterity challenged:

• A Special Phone allows the user to shake the iPhone a number of times, and it will dial the number that you want. A review of the Special Phone (along with a six minute video demonstration) may be found at the iPhone App Reviews blog.
• FluidTunes gives the user “control over your music using only a camera, and your hands, head, or feet.”
• Paul Natsch’s post, iPod Touch Apps for the Dexterity Challenged, reviews two speech recognition apps: Voxie and Vocalia.
• See also Ricky Buchanan’s iPhone Voice Commands.

For individuals with diabetes:

• Users can “manage” their diabetes with Glucose Buddy. A video demonstration of this app may be found here.
• Manny Hernandez at tudiabetes.com found three other iPhone diabetes apps (DiabetesLog, DiaMedic, and GlucoseLog). Read users’ personal perspectives in the comments section at the tudiabetes.com blog.
• There’s an interesting product called LifeCase & LifeApp System designed by two graduate students who won a $10,000 prize. This product is not yet on the market, however.

To find more apps, check out The Best iPhone App Review Sites for a list of blogs that provide good reviews of iPhone apps.