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Published on December 7, 2007

Nectec director Dr Pansak Siriruchatapong said the programs would help an increasing number of patients with speech impairments, including those who suffered from autism, deafness, or have had a stroke.

Nectec researchers spent 15 months developing the software.

"I hope patients will be happy to be able to talk and express their feelings to others," Pansak said.

Nectec has developed three software programs - a Thai speech assessment program, a program to control the quality of voice and language, and an electronic device that can help patients admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICU) to communicate with physicians and visitors.

Speech therapists and physicians could use all the three programs to help and train their patients to communicate with others, he said.  The Thai speech assessment is designed for therapists to evaluate the speech capabilities and voice quality of the patient.

They would be trained to pronounce the word and express their voice into the computer, which would then read the patient's tone of voice, time, and rhythm to express the word. The program would then record the result and report the progress of training to the speech therapist, and allow them to evaluate and improve the patient's skill.

The other computer program called "Prasai" will be used to help patients who have lost the ability to communicate due to autism or after suffering a stroke. This program will be used to help patients boost their memory by using multimedia information, including pictures, synthetic voices and text to recognise words and sentences.

"The program will show a picture or image on the computer screen and the patient would hear the synthetic voice when they place a finger on the touch screen. If they train everyday, their memory would improve," he said.

The last program, called " ICU Talk", is designed for patients admitted to ICUs who are unable to communicate with others. Patients will use the touch screen or a button to control the command, and then the computer will express the synthetic voice enabling them to communicate with doctors or family members.

Siriraj Hospital Director Dr Piyasakol Sakolsatayatorn said the hospital would select 30 in-patients to join a one-year trial to evaluate the implementation of these programs, and Nectec will then improve the program accordingly.

He said the three programs were expected to be provided to other hospitals and institutes next year

Pongphon Sarnsamak

 The Nation