The Mobile Health Crowd has a very interesting report from scientists at Hollins Communications Research Institute, a leading center for stuttering research and treatment innovation, have just completed successful trials using Apple’s iPhone as a stuttering therapy tool to enhance the transfer of new fluency skills from the clinical setting into real-life situations.
The mobile device was programmed at HCRI with a sophisticated voice monitoring system that evaluates and scores speech behaviors taught during stuttering therapy. When clients use the device during training in outside situations, such as in a shopping mall, restaurant or business setting, fluency measurements for each utterance are displayed on the iPhone screen. Having this data immediately available to stuttering therapy program participants makes speech practice more effective and helps improve the speed with which fluency results are achieved.
In addition, the mobile is being used to record and send every speech sample to the HCRI enabling therapists to provide more detailed and precise training to clients, as they learn to apply new speech capabilities in everyday situations.
According to HCRI Founder and President Ronald L. Webster, Ph.D. the mobile device exceeded expectations: “Our clients now have a dynamic, easy-to-use tool that can be used in virtually any setting to evaluate how well they are using newly learned fluency skills, in addition, the device provides training feedback and performance data that were previously available only with our clinic-based computers.”
Webster added that client responses during the trials had been extremely positive due to the strong appeal of the iPhone as a practical and fun piece of technology.
An estimated 66 million people worldwide suffer from the effects of stuttering, with three million living in the U.S. , according to the National Institutes of Health. There is no cure for the condition – only stuttering treatment is proven to help.
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