A tablet application for the aged and the disabled to communicate

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26330388
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Library and information science/Humanistic social informatics
• Research Institution: Komazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Hattori Akira 駒澤大学, グローバル・メディア・スタディーズ学部, 准教授 (60387082)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 柴田 邦臣 津田塾大学, 学芸学部, 准教授 (00383521) ; 庄司 昌彦 国際大学, GLOCOM, 准教授(移行) (50399771) ; 松本 早野香 大妻女子大学, 社会情報学部, 講師 (90575549) ; 吉田 仁美 岩手県立大学, 社会福祉学部, 准教授 (20566385)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 聴覚障害 / タブレット / 音声認識 / コミュニケーション / 写真 / イラスト / スケジューラ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We developed a tablet application to support persons with disabilities, especially those with hearing disabilities and developmental disorders, in interacting with other people and in understanding and preparing for transitions between activities. Our tablet application is characterized by showing topics of a conversation or activities within a schedule with a sequence of pictures. It recognizes words spoken by communication partners and search for the pictures corresponding to the recognized words. Users can make a brief sentence and a schedule by arranging such pictures in a sequence.
We conducted an experiment in collaboration with Nonprofit Organization in Sendai. The results suggested that our tablet application could be effectively used when users talk about their daily lives and when they show today's activities. However, there is room for further development. We will make concerted efforts to resolve the problem.

Free Research Field

社会情報学