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.)

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.

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.

formEdit and the Web Page Communicator Package 2

This is a revised version of the Web Page Communicator Package which contains a set of templates that are used to create web pages that behave similarly to dynamic display speech generating devices. The templates now work in many popular browsers and can be used on many platforms to produce simple, portable, and virtual communications devices. The pages support multiple access methods including single switch and two switch scanning, linear or row-column scans, and auditory scanning. formEdit is a template editor that makes it easy to build a useful communications page using the Web Page Communicator templates. The current template set offers choice grids with 4 to 24 cells. Supported browsers include Windows versions of Internet Explorer 5+, Firefox 2.0, Opera 9, and to a certain extent Safari 3.1 (point and click method only.)

formEdit and the Web Page Communicator Templates

The Web Page Communicator Templates are a set of Internet Explorer compatible web pages that are used to create web pages that behave similarly to dynamic display speech generating devices. Now many platforms capable of running Internet Explorer 4.0 or newer can be used as simple communications devices. The pages support multiple access methods including single switch and two switch scanning, linear or row-column scans, and auditory scanning. formEdit is a template editor that makes it easy to build a useful communications page using the Web Page Communicator templates. The current template set offers choice grids with 4 to 24 cells.

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 primary investigator and Dr Annalu Waller was the secondary. The software has continued to be developed (although its been a wee bit slow), it remains in use in Ninewells Hospital, and there has been wider interest in it from around the world (not enough to warrant selling it though).

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.

Kavlon 10-key

Kavlon 10-key keyboarding wordlist database is a utility to re-map a small set of keys to a larger set of keys and to use that mapping to allowing fast entry of words.

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.

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.

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

Software that enables Windows to be controlled by one or two switches,a joystick, a trackerball or a headpointer. SAW 5 has many additions and 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.

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.