Quality Living, Inc., Psychology Dept., Omaha, NE, United States.
Duquesne University, Dept. of Speech-language Pathology, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
J Commun Disord. 2021 May-Jun;91:106098. doi: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106098. Epub 2021 Mar 11.
Text-to-speech (TTS) technology is a possible reading support for people with aphasia; however, adoption for functional reading remains rare, and people with aphasia may have limited knowledge about TTS. Given this situation coupled with inherent communication challenges associated with aphasia, the purpose of this convergent mixed methods study was to explore the perceptions of participants about desired features, benefits, and drawbacks of TTS technology after having engaged in one-on-one education and guided practice activities.
Nineteen adults with chronic aphasia completed a single education and guided practice session followed by close-ended questions and participation in a semi-structured interview to explain preferences, concerns, beliefs, and opinions about potential TTS technology benefits and drawbacks. Three participants had previously used TTS technology for functional reading; all others had some prior exposure but did not use a system for functional purposes.
Seventeen of 19 participants expressed TTS technology interest after education and guided practice activities. Participants endorsed selection of a preferred voice, control of speech output rate, and highlighting as priority features. Frequently endorsed benefits were improved comprehension and increased reading independence; some participants believed they would succeed in reading a greater variety of materials, communicate more with others, participate in more reading activities, and/or read faster. The greatest concern was mastering device operation; other concerns related to understanding the voice output, needing another person's help for system use, and matching the speech output rate to a preferred reading rate.
Overall, most participants had positive perceptions about possible benefits afforded by TTS technology. Practitioners need to provide opportunities for people with aphasia to learn about and explore TTS systems to determine whether adoption is desired.
文本转语音（TTS）技术可能是失语症患者的一种阅读支持方式；然而，其在功能性阅读中的应用仍然很少，而且失语症患者可能对 TTS 技术知之甚少。鉴于这种情况，再加上与失语症相关的固有沟通挑战，本融合混合方法研究的目的是探索参与者在接受一对一的教育和引导实践活动后对 TTS 技术的期望特征、益处和缺点的看法。
19 名患有慢性失语症的成年人完成了一次教育和引导实践课程，随后回答了一些封闭式问题，并参加了半结构化访谈，以解释他们对潜在 TTS 技术益处和缺点的偏好、关注、信念和意见。其中 3 名参与者之前曾使用 TTS 技术进行功能性阅读；其余所有人都有过一些先前的接触，但没有将系统用于功能性目的。
在教育和引导实践活动后，19 名参与者中有 17 名表示对 TTS 技术感兴趣。参与者表示选择喜欢的声音、控制语音输出速度和突出显示是优先考虑的功能。经常被认可的益处包括提高理解能力和增加阅读独立性；一些参与者认为他们将能够阅读更多种类的材料、与他人更多地交流、更多地参与阅读活动和/或更快地阅读。最大的担忧是掌握设备操作；其他担忧涉及理解语音输出、系统使用需要他人帮助以及将语音输出速度与首选阅读速度匹配。
总体而言，大多数参与者对 TTS 技术可能带来的益处持积极看法。从业者需要为失语症患者提供了解和探索 TTS 系统的机会，以确定是否需要采用。
