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Prolonging Functional Speech in Persons with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Real-Time Virtual Vocal Tract

Award Number: K24DC016312
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: TRAINING/TRAINEESHIP

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People with ALS eventually and inevitably experience serious speech impairment due to progressive deterioration of brain cells that control movements of the tongue, lips and jaw. Despite the devastating consequences of this speech impairment on quality of life and survival, few options are available to assist impaired oral communication, and many existing speech-generating technologies are slow to operate and cost prohibitive. This project seeks to improve quality of life for persons with impaired speech due to ALS by testing the effectiveness of a low-cost, speech-generating device (a virtual vocal tract) that could significantly prolong the ability of these patients to communicate orally. If successful, these techniques could be extended for use by patients' with a broad range of speech motor impairments. The virtual vocal track uses machine learning algorithms to predict what a person is attempting to say, in real-time, based solely on lip movements. Users of the device are able to trigger the playback of a number of predetermined phrases by simply attempting to articulate what they want to say. Our previous work has shown the feasibility of this approach using cost-prohibitive laboratory systems such as electromagnetic articulography. Recent advances in 3D depth mapping camera technology allow these techniques to be tested for the first time using technologies, which are low-cost, portable and already being integrated into consumer devices such as laptops and cellphones. To this end, the system under development will be tested in 60 patients with ALS, representing a range of speech impairment from normal to severe speech intelligibility (15 normal, 15 mild, 15 moderate, 15 severe). During testing, participants will be cued to articulate the phrases in a random order as fast as is comfortable for them. The entire session will be recorded and the following variables will be measured offline: recognition accuracy, recognition latency, task time, % completion, and communication rate (words per minute). Users will rate the usability and acceptability of the virtual vocal tract immediately following device testing, using the System Usability Scale. Results of this testing will be used to address the following specific aims: (1) Determine the accuracy and latency of real-time phrase synthesis based on dysarthric speech using the virtual vocal tract, (2) Determine the usability and acceptability of real-time phrases produced using the virtual vocal tract, and (3) Identify the articulatory and speech factors that degrade recognition accuracy.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2023	2021	MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.THE	36 1ST AVE	BOSTON	MA	02129	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	5	4/7/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $189,937 )
2021	2021	MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.THE	36 1ST AVE	BOSTON	MA	02129	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	5	6/24/2021	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$189,937
														Subtotal = $189,937

Issue Date FY: 2020 ( Subtotal = $189,841 )
2020	2020	MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.THE	36 1ST AVE	BOSTON	MA	02129	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	4	6/24/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$189,841
														Subtotal = $189,841

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $189,841 )
2019	2019	MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.THE	36 1ST AVE	BOSTON	MA	02129	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	3	6/25/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$189,841
														Subtotal = $189,841

Issue Date FY: 2018 ( Subtotal = $189,841 )
2018	2018	MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.THE	36 1ST AVE	BOSTON	MA	02129	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	2	6/11/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$189,841
														Subtotal = $189,841

Issue Date FY: 2017 ( Subtotal = $189,841 )
2017	2017	MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.THE	36 1ST AVE	BOSTON	MA	02129	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	7/10/2017	NEW	$189,841
														Subtotal = $189,841

Grand Total All Awards = $949,301

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Prolonging Functional Speech in Persons with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Real-Time Virtual Vocal Tract

Award Number: K24DC016312

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: TRAINING/TRAINEESHIP

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