Alternative and Augmentative Communication

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AAC Keys

AAC Keys is a keyboard and mouse emulation program for Microsoft Windows-based and Macintosh computers. AAC Keys receives commands through your computer's serial port and translates them into keystrokes and mouse movements, giving you full control of your computer from another device such as an AAC system. (If your computer has only USB ports, an inexpensive adapter is available.)

ARASAAC Pictograms

A free (CC-BY-NC-SA) resource of around 5000 colour and black & white pictographic symbols from Catedu and the Aragonese Portal of Augmentative and Alternative Communication in Spain.

CHIP Speaking

CHIPSPEAKING is a desktop augmentative communication device that supports up to 99 messages. Users can record in their own voice (or care-givers can record the voice of someone else of the same gender and age) or take advantage of computerized voices.

Concept Coding Framework (CCF)

Around the world, people with impaired communication, including difficulties to read or write, may use symbols as an alternative or complement to character based texts. Referencing to, and exchanging these alternatively coded messages over the Internet is difficult due to the lack of standardised encoding schemes and common practises. The Concept Coding Framework (CCF) is being developed to overcome some of these difficulties.

Dkey

Dkey is disambiguation software for computers - it works in a similar way to 'predictive text' on your mobile phone. It is designed to allow quicker text input for people with physical disabilities who can use a keyboard with a small number of keys, for example a number pad keyboard. It can also be used with mouse input, or with switch input via other software. It is designed with people with disabilities in mind, but could be used by anyone.

DonnerLaParole

DonnerLaParole is a primarily text based communicator for people with speech and physical impairments - including word prediction, text-to-speech support etc. Best support for French - cross-platform Java application.

EdWord and EdWeb

EdWord is a talking word processor that allows you to combine text with symbols. EdWeb is a talking web browser that can display web pages as a combination of text and symbols.

Free Speech for Android

Free Speech is a free and open source augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) program that provides a low-cost alternative to dedicated speech generating devices (SGD).

Gaze Talk

GazeTalk is a predictive text entry system that has a restricted on-screen keyboard with ambiguous layout for severely disabled people. The main reason for using such a keyboard layout is that it enables the use of an eye tracker with a low spatial resolution (e.g., a web-camera based eye tracker).

Hawking Toolbar

Makes the web accessible for users with motor skill impairments

Hotspots

Hotspots is now open source and public domain or free software. It may be used by a number of users on one computer or by one user on a number of different computers.

ICUTalk

ICUTalk was a research project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) from 1999 to 2002. The project developed an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system to help patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU) who are temporarily unable to speak due to their medical condition or treatment, namely the intubation procedure. This was a multi-disciplinary collaborative project involving staff from the University of Dundee (School of Computing and the School of Nursing & Midwifery) and Ninewells Hospital, Dundee (Speech & Language Therapy and Intensive Care Unit). Andy Judson was the software developer and Professor Ian Ricketts was the principal investigator.

Jambu

Jambu makes the web easier to access for those who interact with computers using switches and head mice or other types of Alternative Input device. It is designed for users with mobility impairments who find keyboard and mice difficult or impossible to use.

Morseall

Morseall allows you to control your computer using only the mouse buttons. It allows you to produce keystrokes by tapping Morse codes with just a single button or with a three-button mouse for faster entry.

Mousetweaks 2.23.2

Mousetweaks provides mouse accessibility enhancements for the GNOME desktop.

MyFTC

My Freedom To Communicate (MyFTC) is Assistive Technology (AT) software that uses text-to-speech technology to enable nonverbal individuals to communicate easily in real life situations.

MyFTC - My Freedom to Communicate

My Freedom To Communicate (MyFTC) is Assistive Technology (AT) software that uses text-to-speech technology to enable nonverbal individuals to communicate easily in real life situations.

Plaphoons

Plaphoons is one of the many valuable results from the Catalan Fressa project, made available under a CC-BY-NC-SA licence. It is a comprehensive tool for alternative access and AAC. Versions are available for MS Window (95 - 7), Java (GPL license) and recently for Android. Most information still only available in Catalan and Spanish.

PowerTalk

PowerTalk automatically speaks any presentation or slide show running in Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows. You just download and install PowerTalk and while you open and run the presentation as usual it speaks the text on your slides. The advantage over other generic 'Text To Speech' programs is that PowerTalk is able to speak text as it appears and can also speak hidden text attached to images. Speech is provided by the standard synthesised computer voices that are provided with Windows. Note: The "Latest version" information here is not currently maintained. Select the external download link to Sourceforge for the latest versions!

pVoice

pVoice is an application for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).Disabled people who cannot speak and have very little possiblities to operate a computer can use pVoice by selecting photo's or symbols to generate speech output.

QuickPics

Software application to develop communication and language boards.

Special Access To Windows

Free software that enables Windows to be controlled by one or two switches, a trackerball or a headpointer. A new SAW 6 version - supported by the AEGIS project - is now available adding many feautures to make creating interfaces easy for those who use alternative inputs.

Symbol & Concept Coding Editor (aka SYMBERED)

Building a Symbol and Concept Coding Editor for CMS, based on CCF(ConceptCodingFramework).

SymVoc

SymVoc is aimed to help less able people to communicate with others using symbols and speech synthesis.

Tablet PC Speech Assistant

The Tablet PC Speech Assistant is a program which runs on the Tablet PC or the more portable Ultra-Mobile PC. The software was originally built by Todd Landstad, a software engineer with years of experience with Tablet PC development. He developed the Tablet PC Speech Assistant as an aid for people who have problems speaking. The Tablet PC Speech Assistant can make it fairly easy for some people to have phrases that they often use spoken by the default voice on the Tablet PC. Given that the software require fairly good handwriting ability, and access to specific hardware, it will not be practical for some people.

Talking Notes for Powerpoint

For those with speech problems who need to talk to a Powerpoint presentation.

Web Page Communicator package - including formEdit

Web Page Communicator - Use the formEdit program and special web page templates to create dynamic communications screens that run in many of the most popular web browsers. Now improved with better compatibility with most browsers that support HTML5 technology. Use the Web Page Communicator package to turn any device that can run Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, or Safari (direct select only) browsers into a communications device for free!

WWAAC Web Browser

This is a talking, keyboard, switch and mouse pointer accessible web browser with page summarising tools. It has a highly configerable user interface and was developed as part of an EU project.