Simultaneous Multimodal PC Access for People With Disabilities by Integrating Head Tracking, Speech Recognition, and...

Multimodal Tongue Drive System (mTDS) is a highly integrated wireless assistive technology (AT) in the form of a lightweight wearable headset that utilizes three remaining key control and communication abilities in people with severe physical disabilities, such as tetraplegia, to provide them with effective access to computers: 1) tongue motion for discrete/switch-based control (e.g., clicking), 2) head tracking for proportional control (e.g., mouse pointer movements), and 3) speech recognition for typing, all available simultaneously. The mTDS architecture is presented here with new sensor signal processing algorithm for head tracking. To evaluate the device performance, it was compared against keyboard-and-mouse (KnM) combination, the gold standard in computer input methods, by 15 able-bodied participants, who used both mTDS and KnM to generate and sent an email with randomly selected content, under a 5-minute time constraint. In four repetitions, in the last trial, it took participants only 1.8 times longer to complete the email task, on average, using the mTDS versus KnM at 82.4% typing accuracy. Mean task completion time and typing accuracy improved 24.6% and 18.8% from first to fourth trial using mTDS. Multimodal simultaneous discrete and proportional control input options of mTDS, plus rapid typing, is expected to provide more effective computer access to people with severe physical disabilities.