For many people with speech difficulties, being understood is a daily struggle. Only close friends and family learn to understand their unique way of speaking, which limits how they can express themselves when speaking with different people. This also impacts their ability to have their voice heard in research.
The INVITE Project (INcorporating Voice actIvated communication aids inTo Everyday communication) studied how voice recognition apps can help people to communicate. We worked with 24 people with speech difficulties who used voice input voice output apps for up to six months. These apps can be trained to recognize specific words or sounds someone says and then speak out stored full sentences.
Individuals with severe communication difficulties and/or learning difficulties are often excluded from research. This presentation will focus on the methodological innovations we developed to ensure people with speech differences could meaningfully participate during Phase 1 of the project.
To ensure participants’ voices were heard throughout the research process, we employed inclusive methods during planning, recruitment, data collection and dissemination.
Inclusive strategies adopted by The INVITE Project addressed this by having expert communication aid users in the project team, ensuring potential project participants who could give informed consent were not excluded unnecessarily, and using data collection methods which were flexible to different abilities.
In this session, we will share:
* How our expert user group of AAC users shaped our research protocols
* Our eligibility criteria and process that enabled inclusion of participants with learning disabilities while maintaining research rigor
* Practical examples of our adapted data collection techniques, including visual scaffolding for interviews and modified response formats that increased participation in data collection for people with minimal speech
REFERENCES:
Moran, C., Fryer, K., Judge, S., Cunningham, S., Palmer, R., & Hawley, M. (2024). Incorporating Voice Activated Communication Aids into Everyday Communication. The Journal of Communications Matters, 38(2)
Accessible Summary
* People with speech difficulties often struggle to be understood, especially by those who don’t know them well.
* The INVITE Project tested voice recognition apps that help people with speech difficulties communicate more easily.
* 24 people used these apps for 6 months. The apps learned how they speak and helped say full sentences out loud.
* We made sure people with learning disabilities and speech differences could take part by using inclusive recruitment, consent, and data collection methods.
* This presentation will share what we did to make sure that the research included the voices of people with speech differences or minimal speech.
