Communication is a basic human right, right? After all, it is through communication that we control our existence, make friends and build relationships. The mobile and internet industry are dedicated to making this right even more effortless to exercise.
With every new handset or laptop equipped with up-to-the-minute technology we constantly unearth new forms of entertainment and ways to control our realities.
But for an industry focused on improving communication, there lurks a painfully unanswered question, namely, when are we going to use all these new innovative ideas and technologies to improve the lives of the people that really cry out for it? When will the industry pull together to help those who fall short when it comes to their innate abilities to communicate?
In a bid to answer this question, researchers at the University of Santa Cruz, California, appealed to Microsoft in an effort to help fund the creation of a mobile phone virtual speech and language therapist app to help stroke survivors in Malaysia.
Approximately forty thousand people suffer from a stroke in Malaysia every year. Around one in four suffer from aphasia – a communication impairment causing a deficit in comprehension or expression of language or both.
The results of not having instant access to rehabilitation programs can have severe consequences for patients. Immediate intervention can make all the difference.
For stroke victims, there is a window of opportunity in which to introduce intensive therapy which could maximise long term outcomes for communicative competence.
As is the case in many developing countries, in Malaysia access to speech and language therapy is restricted for a myriad of reasons – including the shortage of speech therapists and a lack of available therapy resources.
With this in mind and supported by a fund of $100,000 from Microsoft, researchers developed an in house, or should we say ‘in-mobile’ therapist for patients to use.
And with over 70% of Malaysia’s population being handset users, the mobile phone is certainly a persuasive therapy tool.
The virtual therapist has life like speech articulation offering an “anthropomorphic” experience and provides therapy via 3D images on the display for patients to receive a realistic view of the lips, tongue and jaw movements.
Moreover, there was an option to make the skin transparent in order to view the movements of the tongue and palate, making it even easier for patients to visualize.
From the phone, patients are even able to design their own therapy plans, customised to their own needs.
Unfortunately, as good as it all sounds, reliable results from the venture were not achieved. The researchers claimed that in order to carry out the project properly, the phones had to be equipped with a multi-tasking function and “Microsoft mobile OS could not do that”.
All is not lost, however, as the team recently submitted a grant proposal in order to follow up on the project, and who knows, if Microsoft OS won’t work, perhaps Android will.
Meanwhile, experts may argue that there is no substitute for one-on-one therapy, and offering intervention via a mobile phone is a gimmick creating false hopes for people with genuine needs.
On the other hand, some feel the researchers deserve full marks for effort and for proving that given the right opportunity and access to the essential technology, the potential to impact and change people’s lives is there.
In the developing world where therapy is hard to come by, it is without a doubt a case of something being better than nothing.
For some time now we have listened to the truism that mobile phones offer over and above what we expected them to. However, nothing is more impressive than the potential use to improve the lives of those who really need it, providing a communicative crutch and taking on the duty to push communication to another level.
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Carolyn Green, freelance contributor to RCR Unplugged, is a born and bred Scottish lass from the city of Glasgow. With a passion for travel and exploration, she currently finds herself in South Korea, rubbing elbows with the Korean locals in Daegu.
