DI@L-log by design: an integrated tele-care communication infrastructure

A spoken dialogue system for the acquisition of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) home monitored patient data known as DI@L-log is presented. The purpose of the system is to collect weight, blood sugar and blood pressure readings from a cohort of hypertensive T2DM patients on a weekly basis using their home telephone. The recent voice-data convergence affords an arguably improved means for doctors to track patient health states at a distance in order to provide health institutions with more frequent and accurate patient profiles. Our system architecture integrates VoiceXML and the standard PSTN, with a Pan-European open source for hosting Internet telephony applications. This paper reports on recent developments in the design of DI@L-log, which aims to serve as a communication intervention that disparages the traditional paper logbook used to document readings by the patient.