CloudVent; v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
CloudVent: speech recognition for people with paralysis using ventilators
IRAS ID
182477
Contact name
Heidi Christensen
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
People with a high-level spinal cord injury (SCI) are hugely dependent on carers, families and friends. They cannot use traditional interfaces to digital devices such as keyboards, touchscreens and buttons. An attractive alternative is to use a speech recognition system (ASR). However, there are no commercial speech recognisers which can cope with the altered speech pattern of people who use a ventilator to help them breathe.
Sheffield has world-leading expertise in adapting ASR to atypical speech. In this project, we will provide a proof-of-concept that we can adapt our technology to cope with the particular characteristics of the speech of people using ventilators. In particular:
● adapt the speech recogniser so that it can reliably cope with the distracting sounds from the ventilator,
● adapt the speech recognition so that it can cope with the altered speech pattern: people typically need to speak in shorter phrases and their voices also tend to weaken towards the end of a breath,
● collect a pilot database containing speech data from 3-10 potential users, and
● evaluate how well the speech recogniser works for each user.An opportunity to work directly with SCI patients has recently arisen, and we have assembled a unique multi-disciplinary team to work on the challenge. CloudVent will bring together speech technology experts from Sheffield University (Christensen and Green), occupational therapists working with patients at the Spinal Injuries Unit at Sheffield Teaching Hospital (Atkins and Davis, STH), clinical scientists working with users when discharged (Scott and Judge), the main SCI patient organisation in the UK (Kell, ASPIRE) and a leading UK-based assistive technology company (Bridge and Gadgil, TherapyBox).
REC name
Wales REC 7
REC reference
15/WA/0370
Date of REC Opinion
7 Oct 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion