Communication Devices for Stroke Victims? 28
chowbok asks: "My grandmother recently had a stroke, which left her with the inability to speak or move the right half of her body. It also seriously impaired her motor skills on the half she can move, so she can't write. She does understand what is said to her, but she has no way to communicate. I'd like to set something up for her so that she can write notes. What I have in mind is a keyboard with rather large keys (perhaps 2" square) and a screen or monitor of some sort. I'm sure they make such stuff specifically for stroke victims, but anything labeled 'medical' will undoubtedly be astronomically expensive, even if it is a rather simple device like what I have in mind. I thought it would be easier to build one or find something similar (perhaps a toy or some such). I thought Slashdot readers might have some good suggestions along these lines. I'm not totally against doing it with a computer with a modified keyboard, but that seems like overkill when all I want is really a 'video typewriter'. Has anyone seen anything that might work for my purposes, or might serve as a good starting point?"
You could try... (Score:1)
Re:You could try... (Score:1)
Really? I think you are lying, you later say
Murphy's Paradox... the more you plan, the more can go wrong, thus a greater chance of failure.
This would probably get you started... (Score:4, Funny)
I found it by searching google for "really really big keyboard" ... no joke.
DOnt take this the wrong way (Score:2)
Also, just dont think computer. Perhaps an old fashoned keyboard typewriter with bigger buttons glued on it or something. Morse code? Scrabble tiles?
You want a computer; here's why. (Score:4, Interesting)
No, you want a computer.
Why, you ask? So that you can get some sort of predictive typing interface. You'll probably also want something that allows easy one or two key selection of common words and phrases.
That way your grandmother won't have to type as much, or feel self-conscious as
P E O P L E
W A I T
F O R
H E R
to laboriously type out sentences which they've probably already guessed.
Suggestion: predictive typing based on words already typed, with a completion list mapped to a meta key and some other key, and a special meta key that pops up a list of words and phrases, each mapped to a single key:
A - "Hello"
B - "Goodbye"
C - "Visiting hours are over, you annoying cretin"
Ok, maybe not that last one.
If she's especially immoble, you might even use a two button mouse, and some Huffman encoded alphabet that includes stock words and phrases. While learning the Huffman encoding might be laborious, this could be made considerablly easier with large on screen prompts:
> Press mouse button one to select any of "A E I O U", press mouse button two for any other letter or word.
> You pressed mouse button one. Now press mouse button one again for the letters "E" or "A". Press mouse button two for "I O U" or to start over."
> You pressed mouse button two. Press mouse key one for "I". Press mouse button two for "O" or "U" or to start over.
Touchscreens? (Score:1, Interesting)
That might all be too much work and is probably overkill for your situation, but it's an option you may want to consider if you haven't already.
What you want to do is.... (Score:1)
What I can envisage is something that builds the words on screen, and outputs them to something like Festival [ed.ac.uk]. You could script this yourself with perl or python or something. Something like a Toshiba Libretto [amherst.co.uk] would be the perfect form factor.
The biggest problem would in fact be data entry. Obviously, any standard keyboard's keys would be too small to be usable, and any keyboard with 2" square keys would be too big. So the best bet would be to pry off the 80 odd existing keys, and replace them 10 to 20 large keys (making them is an excercise left to the reader), and set up some kind of key chording. If you get hold of a word list (and add any personal words, ie a names list, etc) you could also set up some kind of type ahead scheme.
All in all, very doable, and fairly inexpensive.
Stephen Hawking! (Score:1)
You might want to check is web page [hawking.org.uk]
Why a keyboard? (Score:1)
Some ideas (Score:2)
As for the hardware, I think this method would be a little easier. Modifying an existing keyboard to create a tech-ish solution would be fairly difficult, but a low tech solution (if you are adept at carpentry) would be to build a wooden box with a hollow bottom to lay over some existing keyboard. The box would have 4 big buttons, each on a spring. The large buttons on the surface would be connected to a rod that would depress just one key. You could tie the 4 keys to the 4 program options (forward, backward, toggle, and select) in your software. Then you just need any old crappy computer/monitor combo.
T9, phrase-based, joystick, ??? (Score:3, Insightful)
You don't want to make it painstakingly slow for her to type out a sentence. That makes it really hard for even an oversized keyboard to work.
A keyboard with 2" keys will be over 28" wide. Moving from key to key will be even more difficult when her arm gets tired. Keyboards are optimized for two-hand use; it's tiring enough using even a regular keyboard with one hand. (Stop it! This is serious!)
A version of T9 input gets around the size limitation; she could operate a 6"x8" pad easily without moving too far. If there was a custom app that let her tree down through word lists, that would be ideal. Say she wants to say "granddaughter." She hits the 4-G-H-I key once and a pointer scrolls to the G's. Then she hits the 7-P-Q-R-S key three times to get to the gr's (a list of perhaps half a dozen words). She could hit the 2-A-B-C key once to narrow it down further, or use a scroller wheel to select the right word. If a word does not exist in the database, she can enter a non-matching mode to tap in the word so she can use it later.
Another method, if she has even less dexterity, is a joystick or wheel that can scroll through letters and words, perhaps in a directory-like fashion as above. Only requires two basic movements and a button press, and hardware is easily custom-built. Common phrases can be added, or even custom mad-libs type templates for common conversation topics, requests, etc.
Hope this helps in some way!
Re:T9, phrase-based, joystick, ??? (Score:2)
Isn't funny, really. When using my phone to type, I can sympathize with how difficult it must be to always communicate with these kinds of methods, when speech, typing, sign language, and writing are out of the question.
Re:T9, phrase-based, joystick, ??? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:T9, phrase-based, joystick, ??? (Score:3, Informative)
on slashdot here [slashdot.org] and here [slashdot.org]. lotsa fun, downloadable demo.
Re:T9, phrase-based, joystick, ??? (Score:1)
it's definately not suitable for somone with a physical disability.
the algorithms for statistically determining the next letter were great, and i think it could be applied elsewhere, but i think this was a poor implementation
"Locked In" Syndrome (Score:1)
The journalist relates the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby who was magazine editor and suffered a stroke in his forties. He was completely paralyzed except for a blinking eyelid, yet he was able to write a book "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death" [amazon.com]
use Perl; (Score:3, Interesting)
low-tech approach (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Dasher (Score:2)
Check out Dasher here [cam.ac.uk].
Big Keys Keyboard (Score:4, Informative)
They also sell a programmable foot switch [ergo-2000.com] with a keyboard interface for $120.
Stephen Hawking (Score:3, Informative)
According to this old write-up [hawking.org.uk] on Hawking's website, he uses a simple DOS interface. A cursor moves across the screen (through the letters?), and he stops it on the desired letter with a click of a button. Now, this could be improved upon easily if your grandmother has slightly more mobility, though it requires some reaction time. Add word-guessing software (and sentence guessing) that learns her most common words to help speed up text entry, as per the suggestions above. I envision a two button device... a hacked mouse for example... where the left button selects the letters from a scrolling cursor, and the right button selects the words that pop up as suggestions simultaneously.
A cursor scrolling through the letters, stopped on "G"... "A" was entered first:
A B C D E F G etc...
She enters: A G
Suggestions List: (pops up under the scrolling cursor, so she can continue to enter letters if she likes, as the suggestions narrow)
AGE
AGO
AGORAPHOBIA
- - - - - - - -
AGE COMES BEFORE BEAUTY.
AGED BEEF TASTES BETTER.
etc.
As she becomes accustomed to the software, you can gradually increase the scroll time through the letters; and, as she enters more and more text, the system will get better at guessing what she will say and rank the probable selections higher in the list. Also, depending on how many buttons she can use (2 is quite enough), you can add certain functions to combinations of clicks. For example, Hawking lacks an "undo" button. Here, you could make it 'right click - left click - right click' in relatively quick succession. Or, to switch to numbers and punctuation, you could program it so that she pressess both buttons simultaneously, or set it to another combo, etc.
Finally, a quick google shows a project [radiophony.com] working on open source (albeit VB) software to improve upon Hawking's interface while keeping in mind the poor mobility of ALS victims.
Speech Output Devices (Score:2, Informative)
Keyboard (Score:2, Informative)
Ideal device (Score:1)
In use, you press a combination of buttons for each letter you want, the combinations are chosen so that they resemble the glyphs for each letter, say X is all but middle, J is middle and thumb (both are of thse are based on the end points), etc.
I've used one before, and eventaully could learn how to get it work, but I fimd a keyboard far easier.