A Mobile Phone based Speech Therapist

TL;DR

This paper proposes a low-cost mobile-based speech therapy system that allows remote, flexible, and accessible speech therapy sessions, addressing the shortage of trained therapists and reducing travel and costs.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mobile platform for speech therapy enabling both synchronous and asynchronous interactions, reducing dependency on physical visits.

Findings

System supports remote speech therapy sessions

Reduces travel and costs for patients

Addresses therapist shortage in developing regions

Abstract

Patients with articulatory disorders often have difficulty in speaking. These patients need several speech therapy sessions to enable them speak normally. These therapy sessions are conducted by a specialized speech therapist. The goal of speech therapy is to develop good speech habits as well as to teach how to articulate sounds the right way. Speech therapy is critical for continuous improvement to regain normal speech. Speech therapy sessions require a patient to travel to a hospital or a speech therapy center for extended periods of time regularly; this makes the process of speech therapy not only time consuming but also very expensive. Additionally, there is a severe shortage of trained speech therapists around the globe in general and in developing countries in particular. In this paper, we propose a low cost mobile speech therapist, a system that enables speech therapy using a mobile phone which eliminates the need of the patient to frequently travel to a speech therapist in a far away hospital. The proposed system, which is being built, enables both synchronous and asynchronous interaction between the speech therapist and the patient anytime anywhere