Consonantal Phonation: Appling ICTs for Diagnosis and Treatment of Vocalization Problems

Abstract

Speech and language therapists assess and treat speech, language and communication problems in people of all ages to help them communicate better. In this case, technology is a tool that can support therapy. However, related resources presentation and utilization for these vocalization difficulties are limited to pictograms and static web pages developed by speech therapists. This chapter describes a prototype based on mobile devices (tablets) and cloud computing aiming at supporting speech therapists and teachers towards the diagnosis and treatment of vocalization problems with particular interest in consonantal phonemes. The proposal have been designed and evaluated for therapist’s sessions. It provides an initial diagnosis, creation word’s composition, phonemes histories generation and management, lips positioning, and phonetic exercises tables. This process is conducted by the speech therapists or the system as such, and, at the same time, prepares the exercises collection in order to provide with the therapeutic a sequence to support the patient’s treatment. Cloud technologies provide the appropriate place to host a platform supporting the system with the associated features due to the wider development and distribution for tablets cloud computing provided.