Passive imaging technology in aphasia therapy

Abstract

We describe a brief pilot study undertaken to investigate the potential benefit(s) of using a SenseCam in aphasia therapy. Five post-stroke persons with aphasia and their caregivers agreed to participate. Each person with aphasia wore the SenseCam for 1 day during the daytime. Slide shows and printed images were created from the images obtained and presented at a (videotaped) weekly group conversation session. Therapists' observations, reflections, and opinions were subsequently elicited in a group interview and online survey. Wearable, sensor-triggered automatic imaging devices offer potential advantages over both conventional cameras and generic pictures when used in aphasia therapy. We identified three advantages of a SenseCam over conventional imaging methods: Images can be acquired without the presence of the researcher, no action is required by the wearer for image acquisition and the continuous point of view is that of the wearer. Acquired images are of personal relevance to the wearer and may have greater efficacy for the person with aphasia in aiding conversation, and for the speech language therapist in setting functional language goals.

Keywords:

• Aphasia therapy
• Speech and language therapy
• Augmentative and alternative communication
• SenseCam

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge Professor Alan Smeaton, Daragh Byrne, and Aiden O'Doherty of Dublin City University's Centre for Digital Video Processing for access to, and assistance with, their event segmentation application, and to Steve Hodges and Emma Berry for their efforts in providing us with the loan of SenseCams. We would also like to thank the speech and language therapists and people with aphasia who took part in this study, and Dr Chris Exton for his comments and suggestions.