Dylan Gardner: Speech Adventure: Cleft Speech Therapy via Speech Recognition

 

Undergraduate Dylan Gardner (University of California: Santa Cruz) worked with graduate student Zachary Rubin (University of California: Santa Cruz) and Professor Sri Kurniawan to develop an iOS based game to improve recovery time for children who have experienced cleft surgery.

 

Children who are born with cleft palate/lip find it difficult to manipulate air flow through their nose and mouth which lead to unintelligible speech. Through human computer interaction, speech recognition software, as well as an engaging environment, children with cleft are given an additional tool to aid their speech therapy. 

 

The field of Computer Engineering tackled the shortcomings of traditional speech therapy. Graduate student Zachary Rubin developed an interactive game that contained playable levels in which targeted specific sounds a child with cleft might find difficult to annunciate. Exercises performed at home in the presence of parents or guardians sometimes regress the development of speech due to the lack of an untrained ear in the room. In addition, it is not always feasible to provide children with one on one interactions with their pathologist. Speech Adventure provides speech therapy and statistical feedback throughout the development of cleft speech, as well as the link amongst children, parents, and speech therapists.