Fried-Oken Melanie, Rowland Charity, Baker Glory, Dixon Mayling, Mills Carolyn, Schultz Darlene, Oken Barry
Oregon Health & Science University.
ACM Trans Access Comput. 2009 Mar;1(3):15. doi: 10.1145/1497302.1497305.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the presence or absence of digitized 1-2 word voice output on a direct selection, customized augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device would affect the impoverished conversations of persons with dementia. Thirty adults with moderate Alzheimer's disease participated in two personally relevant conversations with an AAC device. For 12 of the participants the AAC device included voice output. The AAC device was the Flexiboard™ containing 16 messages needed to discuss a favorite autobiographical topic chosen by the participant and his/her family caregivers. Ten-minute conversations were videotaped in participants' residences and analyzed for four conversational measures related to the participants' communicative behavior. Results show that AAC devices with digitized voice output depress conversational performance and distract participants with moderate Alzheimer's disease as compared to similar devices without voice output. There were significantly more 1-word utterances and fewer total utterances when AAC devices included voice output, and the rate of topic elaborations/initiations was significantly lower when voice output was present. Discussion about the novelty of voice output for this population of elders and the need to train elders to use this technology is provided.
本研究的目的是确定在直接选择、定制的辅助和替代沟通（AAC）设备上是否存在数字化的一两个词语音输出，是否会影响痴呆症患者贫乏的对话。30名患有中度阿尔茨海默病的成年人使用AAC设备参与了两场与个人相关的对话。其中12名参与者使用的AAC设备配有语音输出。AAC设备是Flexiboard™，其中包含讨论参与者及其家庭护理人员选择的最喜欢的自传主题所需的16条信息。在参与者家中对10分钟的对话进行录像，并对与参与者沟通行为相关的四项对话指标进行分析。结果表明，与没有语音输出的类似设备相比，具有数字化语音输出的AAC设备会降低对话表现，并分散中度阿尔茨海默病患者的注意力。当AAC设备配有语音输出时，单字话语显著增多，总话语量减少，且有语音输出时，话题阐述/发起率显著降低。文中讨论了针对这类老年人群体语音输出的新颖性，以及培训老年人使用这项技术的必要性。
