The Aphasia Project

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The Aphasia Project

• Designing Technology For and With People who have
  Aphasia
• Maria Klawe, Sonya Nikolova, Jordan Boyd-Graber
• Princeton University
• Marilyn Tremaine, Rutgers University
• Joanna McGrenere, Peter Graf, Barbara Purves,
• Karyn Moffatt, Meghan Allen
• University of British Columbia

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Outline

• What is Aphasia?
• Problems with existing solutions
• The evolution of ESI planner
• Broader impacts

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What is Aphasia?
Aphasia is a loss of words not intelligence
lhd have meelk

• Acquired language disorder
• Caused by brain damage (e.g. stroke, trauma, etc.)

• Impairment of communication abilities
• Relative sparing of other cognitive abilities

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Impact of Aphasia

• More common than Parkinsons disease
• Withdrawal from society

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Problems with existing solutions

• Limited to communication lack of higher level
  applications
• Communication too slow for most aphasics
• Stigma of relying on laptops in public
• Poor user-interface of handhelds
• Buttons too small
• Confusing navigation
• Poor organization of multi-media data

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The Aphasia Project

• Goal understand how individuals with aphasia
  communicate and seek opportunities where
  technology can better support individuals in
  their daily life
• Interdisciplinary project computer science,
  psychology, speech language pathology
• Multi-site UBC, Princeton, aphasia centers,

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Types of Subprojects

• I Participatory design of application prototypes
• Daily planner
• Handheld
• Combined handheld and laptop system
• Recipe book (laptop or tablet)
• File system (handheld)
• II Evaluation of commercial PDAs
• Long term use by Skip
• Short term use of camera function

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Special challenges with research involving
aphasics

• Access to participants
• Communication with participants
• Right hemiparesis
• Lack of experience with computers, PDA
• Uncertain future of PDAs

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I Participatory Design of High-Level Application
Prototypes

• daily planner
• interactive cookbook

• Anita Borg,
• 1949 - 2003

Karyn Moffatt
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ESI Planner 1
The Enhanced with Sound and Images Planner

• PDA application (iPaq from HP)
• A computerized daily planner designed for people
  with aphasia
• Uses images, sound, and text to represent people
  and places in appointments

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I Images, Sound, Text

• Say you have an appointment with Queen Elizabeth,
  at the Eiffel Tower on November 6, 2003 from
  800am to 1000am
• ESI Planner would display it like this

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I Participatory Design

• Four phases

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I Participatory Design

• Four phases
• Idea brainstorming
• Interviews
• Identified needs
• Daily planner
• Recipe book

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I Participatory Design

• Four phases
• Idea brainstorming
• Paper low-fi prototypes

2 - Using computer tools
1 - Drawn by hand
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I Participatory Design

• Four phases
• Idea brainstorming
• Paper low-fi prototypes
• Medium-fi prototypes

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I Participatory Design

• Four phases
• Idea brainstorming
• Paper low-fi prototypes
• Medium-fi prototypes
• High-fi prototypes and formal evaluation in lab

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I High-fi Prototypes
ESI Planner
NESI Planner
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I Formal Evaluation

• 8 participants
• Session 1
• 30 minutes with each Planner (ESI and NESI)
• 10 tasks (retrieval, creation, modification)
• of tasks completed
• of tasks completed correctly
• Session 2 Western Aphasia Battery

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I Results
Significantly more tasks completed correctly with
ESI Planner.

• Preference 5 ESI, 3 NESI.

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Limitations of ESI Planner 1

• Need for field study
• Interface for input and modification of
  appointments
• Lack of stable memory on iPAQ after power loss
• Lack of library of icons and sounds

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ESI Planner 2

• Input on laptop
• Lingraphica library of icons and sounds
• Stable memory
• Built-in camera in iPAQ
• Participatory design with speech language
  pathologists (SLPs)
• Four week field study

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Lingraphica

• Current Lingraphica system
• Laptop-based (easier interface)
• Used at home for practice
• Issues
• Expensive, restricted to AAC insurance diagnosis
• Stigma

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A Lingraphica phrase
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Initial goal for prototype

• Download appointments and phrases from
  Lingraphica to ESI planner on handheld
• Anticipated uses
• Visits to doctors, etc.
• Shopping
• Medication

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ESI Planner 2 home
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appointments
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phrase
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The need for LgLite

• Lingraphica (Lg) too complex
• Inability to add photos in Lg
• No Windows version of Lg

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LgLite interface
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LgLite interface
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The Pilot Field Study

• Seven aphasics at Adler Aphasia Center
• Four weeks, one videotaped meeting with each
  participant per week
• Log of interactions with iPAQ and computer

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Outcomes

• Little use of appointments
• Input only possible at Adler Center
• Desire for input on iPAQ
• Extensive use of camera
• Desire for better photo management on iPAQ
• Problems with sound playback
• Range of text and speech abilities
• Enthusiasm for continued use of iPAQs

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Next steps

• Add input on iPAQ
• Improve photo management on iPAQ
• Improve sound playback
• Improve LgLite interface
• Another field study at Adler

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Broader impact

• Dual usefulness between aphasics and elderly
  (poor vision, memory loss, Alzheimers, etc.)
• Other visual language applications

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For More Info

• http//www.cs.ubc.ca/projects/Aphasia/