Using Coding Technology to Improve the Communication Efficiency of a Person with Multiple Disabilities

摘要

This case study applies coding technology to design an actively assis-tive communication device to help a person with multiple disabilities to communicate with people independently, instead of having to communicate through her mother. The device includes three parts: (1) the input device, (2) the signal processing device and (3) the signal recognition and output device. The device used two special switches as the input device, and was designed based on single-chip microcomputer. The subject's needs were the starting point of the design. This communication mode in the device was established based on the communication mode previously used by the subject. The device is easy to learn by the subject, and could help the subject to reach the greatest benefit with minimum change according to her previous experiments. Experiment shows, that the subject can communicate with people through the device instead of through her mother. The proposed device can help the subject to express herself actively, relieve burdens from her family loads, improve the quality of life, and simply communication.