AAC Devices: Software and Hardware - HOPE & KAVI

HOPE is a one-touch communication chat tool developed by IIT-Madras in collboration with Vidya Sagar, Chennai, to run on a computer. The software plays the role of a word or sentence builder by using selection from a combination of letters similar to a mobile phone. The choice of one or more letters is followed by a prediction of words that the user is likely to want. The user then chooses a word and continues to frame a sentence. There is also a higher level choice of word or template mode, enabling the user to choose from a previously saved selection of commonly used sentences. All the choices are made by a single click from an input device, e.g., left click of the mouse, with a simplified logic flow to enable easy operation as well as erasure and recovery from erroneous clicks. The technical team was constantly aware of the need for simplicity in the logic flow as some of the end users would be first generation English learners.

The goal was to make the software available on devices that could travel with the child in hot and dusty Indian conditions. HOPE was subsequently ported to embedded devices, such as the Simputer and the Mobilis, developed as mobile computing devices that are tailor-made for Indian conditions. Testing revealed the need to custom build the hardware to ensure reduced costs and features relevant to the use of HOPE. The current product, KAVI, runs MontaVista Linux and enables the user to hear the program as it scans, while the communicative partner only hears the sentence when it is completed. The cross-compilation and speech synthesis was undertaken by Innovate Software Solutions, Bangalore.

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