Updating Simplicity

In the original NCTI Innovator Profile on Afforda Speech from 2005, Ron Hu emphasized affordable, creative new approaches combined with absolute simplicity of design. His recent Da Vinci Award for the KeyboardCommunicator and the successful SmartSpeakers for AlphaSmart systems are proof that these concepts are working, though he jokes about how long it sometimes takes to recognize an obvious and effective solution!

Customizing Flexible AAC Devices

The KeyboardCommunicator is a text-to-speech device for individuals without speech, but intact fine-motor control. It’s an inexpensive device that voices directly from typed text, and permits touch typing or two-finger typing for speed. It also has a “one-button” mode that emulates AAC devices for programmed utterances. It is highly portable and comes with a very small removable keyboard. Ron explains,

The idea for it actually came from conflicting requests from customers. When showing a prototype with a small keyboard, people would ask if it came with a full-sized keyboard. When showing a prototype with a large keyboard, people said, ‘Isn’t that a little large…?’  The light finally went on and we said, ‘People have different needs, why don’t we make it completely swappable?!’

Thus, the KeyboardCommunicator will work with a wide range of different conventional and special keyboards, even permitting the same user to have flexibility for differing contexts and situations. Ron says the traditional approach of integrating components together in a system requires compromises such that “Everyone is just a little bit unhappy, but not VERY unhappy,” in these special populations that have complex and variable needs.

Ron is also cites a corollary of Murphy’s Law that, “You will run out of battery power at the most inopportune time,” so he designed KeyboardCommunicator to run with various disposable or rechargeable batteries that can be swapped from chargers or pockets.

The KeyboardCommunicator is also providing Afforda Speech with substantial penetration into the growing and prized senior citizen market. As people are living longer, more are experiencing strokes and other conditions that limit speech. Referring back to his simplicity of design and use principles, Ron says,

“It’s being used by these seniors who have never have used computers in their lives. Normally most of those people won’t want to touch technology… but in our simplest mode, you type something, you hit enter, and it speaks — and that’s the training course!”

Extending AlphaSmarts with Voice

Ron is well aware of the virtues of the popular and effective AlphaSmart word processing keyboards that are portable, dedicated to word processing, and quick to access and start using without the lengthy boot times of full-blown laptop computers. He says, “AlphaSmarts are used a LOT in schools in the US, and people who use them really LOVE their AlphaSmarts — they’re attached to them. I really like the product myself, the ease of design.”  Ron overheard one of these devotees at a trade show who said, “Gee, I only wish it could speak.”

Ron took the user’s comment to heart, and ultimately contrived a method of integrating speech output with the closed architecture of the AlphaSmart system. At a conference, Ron exhibited an AlphaSmart with the new prototype of SmartSpeaker without calling attention to it. People instantly recognized the AlphaSmart, and queries poured in about the attached speaker — Ron’s confirmation that there was broad interest in speech output for it.

AlphaSmart has followed suit, releasing its own adjunct text-to-speech solution in February of 2008. Still, there are focal differences between the Afforda Speech and AlphaSmart options. Ron’s product is integrated and self-contained with an external speaker, while the AlphaSmart option, according to Ron, only works with a headphone — to permit audible speech to other persons it is necessary to attach a third party speaker and power pack. More importantly, AlphaSmart text-to-speech is only supported by the most recent NEO iteration of the product, while Afforda Speech’s option allows older versions to speak, “Bringing life back to some of the AlphaSmarts that were sitting in school closets.”

In parallel with the argument that the SmartSpeaker allows revitalization of technologies that are already purchased and effective, Ron also explains that going from a word processor to a dedicated text-to-speech communication unit usually involves a substantial learning curve, and elaborates:

The advantage of the schools buying the SmartSpeaker is that the students (and staff) are already familiar with the AlphaSmart, and there is really very little change in what they are used to in getting the speech output.

The SmartSpeaker allows the student user not only to voice immediately typed phrases, but commonly-used phrases saved in the AlphaSmart’s memory.

Swappability: Coming Soon

Ron tantalizes us with an indication that his next product will take his ‘swappability’ concept and apply it to LCD Screens, allowing various sizes to be used for different users or situations with his next communication device. He explains that current assistive devices that involve an LCD screen “typically start between two and three thousand dollars.”  He says that with price drops in LCD technology,

There really is no need for this from a technology point of view. Our next product will take advantage of these very inexpensive LCD panels to make a communication device that could even be used with a 50 inch diagonal screen for a user with low vision. Or if you want portability, you can have a six inch screen. It will be like going to the electronics store and buying the DVD player you want, but then being able to choose the SIZE of the screen you want.

Affordability, simplicity, and innovation: keep an eye on Afforda Speech for more to come!