Audition, The Game (original) (raw)
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This paper describes Audition, The Game, a Flash-based video game created to explore the relationship between speech impediments (espe- cially stuttering), stress and psychophysiological measurement in video games. In the game, play- ers needed to speak certain tongue-twisting phrases in order to advance. Galvanic skin re- sponse was recorded during game play to deter- mine whether speech errors were associated with psychophysiological changes. Initial results showed increased GSR readings when the player spoke the critical phrases. Although further re- search is needed, the preliminary findings show that video games could be used as a non- threatening, non-judgmental tool in the diagnosis and treatment of speech impediments.
Integrating computer games in speech therapy for children who stutter
In this paper we describe our work with the development of a novel computer game supporting speech therapy for children who stutter. We discuss the motivation for our work, the theoretical background, and outline the plans and strategies for the development process. Finally, we describe a preliminary study carried out to evaluate the potential of integrating computer games in speech therapy for children.
Talking to Teo: Video game supported speech therapy
Entertainment Computing, 2014
Children with hearing loss diagnosed before they are 2 years old are capable of developing abilities that range from elementary production such as single sounds, or vowels, to those which are more complex, such as spontaneous production of meaningful words and phrases, assuming that they have been treated correctly and opportunely. Speech production skills depend on language and auditory input, and therapy is usually guided by a therapist in personalised sessions. Some children find mechanisation sessions boring or stressful, while others cannot afford such sessions. In contrast, video games have been shown to motivate youngsters. We introduce Talking to Teo, a video game developed and based on verbal therapy and educational objectives, aimed at the rehabilitation of children with early diagnosed hearing disability, and who use aids such as cochlear implants. The software integrates speech recognition for user interaction and benefits from visual feedback. We performed a set of tests with therapists and patients where video game entertainment has evidenced favouring the repetitive approach required during speech mechanisation sessions.
sPeAK-MAN: Towards Popular Gameplay for Speech Therapy
Current speech therapy treatments are not easily accessible to the general public due to cost and demand. Therapy sessions are also laborious and maintaining motivation of patients is hard. We propose using popular games and speech recognition technology for speech therapy in an individualised and accessible manner. sPeAK-MAN is a Pac-Manlike game with a core gameplay mechanic that incorporates vocalisation of words generated from a pool commonly used in clinical speech therapy sessions. Other than improving engagement, sPeAK-MAN aims to provide real-time feedback on the vocalisation performance of patients. It also serves as an initial prototype to demonstrate the possibilities of using familiar popular gameplay (instead of building one from scratch) for rehabilitation purposes.
Virtual Reality Technology and Speech Analysis for People Who Stutter
EMITTER International Journal of Engineering Technology, 2021
Virtual reality (VR) technology provides an interactive computer-generated experience that artificially simulates real-life situations by creating a virtual environment that looks real and stimulates the user’s feelings. During the past few years, the use of VR technology in clinical interventions for assessment, rehabilitation and treatment have received increased attention. Accordingly, many clinical studies and applications have been proposed in the field of mental health, including anxiety disorders. Stuttering is a speech disorder in which affected individuals have a problem with the flow of speech. This can manifest in the repetition and prolongation of words or phrases, as well as in involuntary silent pauses or blocks during which the individual is unable to produce sounds. Stuttering is often accompanied by a social anxiety disorder as a secondary symptom, which requires separate treatment. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of using a VR environment as a medium ...
Speech-driven mobile games for speech therapy: User experiences and feasibility
International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2018
Purpose: To assist in remote treatment, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) rely on mobile games, which though entertaining, lack feedback mechanisms. Games integrated with automatic speech recognition (ASR) offer a solution where speech productions control gameplay. We therefore performed a feasibility study to assess children's and SLPs' experiences towards speech-controlled games, game feature preferences and ASR accuracy. Method: Ten children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), six typically developing (TD) children and seven SLPs trialled five games and answered questionnaires. Researchers also compared the results of ASR to perceptual judgment. Result: Children and SLPs found speech-controlled games interesting and fun, despite ASR-human disagreements. They preferred games with rewards, challenge and multiple difficulty levels. Automatic speech recognition-human agreement was higher for SLPs than children, similar between TD and CAS and unaffected by CAS severity (77% TD, 75% CASincorrect; 51% TD, 47% CAS, 71% SLP-correct). Manual stop recording yielded higher agreement than automatic. Word length did not influence agreement. Conclusion: Children's and SLPs' positive responses towards speech-controlled games suggest that they can engage children in higher intensity practice. Our findings can guide future improvements to the ASR, recording methods and game features to improve the user experience and therapy adherence.
Measuring Performance of Children with Speech and Language Disorders Using A Serious Game
Speech impediment affecting children with hearing loss and speech disorders requires speech therapy and much practice to overcome. To motivate the children to practice more, serious games can be used because children are more inclined to play games. In this paper, we have designed and implemented a serious game that can be used both as therapy and as a tool to measure performance of children with speech impediments.. The game consists of three steps. The first step provides information for parents or therapists to decide if their child needs speech therapy or not. In the second step, the child starts to learn specific words while playing the game. The third step aims to measure the performance of the child and evaluate how much the child has learned at the end of the game. The game has an avatar which can be controlled by the child through speech, with the objective of moving the avatar around the environment to earn coins. The avatar is controlled by both voice commands such as Jump, Ahead, Back, Left, Right and arrow keys of the keyboard. The game allows the child to practice longer hours, compared to clinical approaches under the supervision of a therapist, which are time-limited. Our preliminary performance measurements indicate an improvement of 40% for children who play our game 5 times.
Can a ‘shouting’ digital game help learners develop oral fluency in a second language?
CALL communities and culture – short papers from EUROCALL 2016, 2016
This study examines the development of oral fluency in a Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) environment that uses a 'shouting' digital game as a pedagogical tool: Spaceteam ESL 4. Spaceteam ESL is a game for mobile devices that involves time-sensitive aural exchanges among players (English learners), with great potential to promote fluency development (via speed) in a non-threatening environment (mediated by the game, a CMC tool). 20 high-beginner/low-intermediate English as a Second Language (ESL) learners participated in the study, divided into two groups: an experimental group (n=11), which played the game for 15 minutes as a warm-up in class for a period of six weeks, and the control group (n=9), which was engaged in 'traditional' classroom activities such as info gap, story retelling, and other interactive activities for the same period of time. The study followed a mixedmethods design with pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests to measure developments in oral fluency (measured via the computation of number of syllables per second). The results suggest that mobile games such as Spaceteam ESL have the potential to assist in fluency development, but further investigation is needed.
Affective speech elicited with a computer game.
Emotion, 2005
To determine the degree to which emotional changes in speech reflect factors other than arousal, such as valence, the authors used a computer game to induce natural emotional speech. Voice samples were elicited following game events that were either conducive or obstructive to the goal of winning and were accompanied by either pleasant or unpleasant sounds. Acoustic analysis of the speech recordings of 30 adolescents revealed that mean energy, fundamental-frequency level, utterance duration, and the proportion of an utterance that was voiced varied with goal conduciveness; spectral energy distribution depended on manipulations of pleasantness; and pitch dynamics depended on the interaction of pleasantness and goal conduciveness. The results suggest that a single arousal dimension does not adequately characterize a number of emotion-related vocal changes, lending weight to multidimensional theories of emotional response patterning.
2019
Stammering is a severe psychophysical speech disorder, which usually occurs in children during an intensive development of speech function (aged between 2 and 6) and can last for many years as a result of chronification and without the necessary assistance. The required psychological and pedagogical conditions for achieving positive results of stammering correction were outlined. The trends and stages of methodology of stammering correction in senior preschoolers by means of tempo rhythmic organization of speech during gaming exercises and theatrical activities were determined. The obtained results of experimental work were generalized. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology was statistically confirmed. The aim of the study is to determine psychological and pedagogical conditions and to develop a scientifically justified methodology of stammering correction in senior preschoolers (aged between 5 and 7) by means of tempo rhythmic organization of speech during gaming exercises ...