Customizable Serious Speech Therapy Games with Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment for Children with Sigmatism

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Game Design

Background:

• Children with speech sound disorders require consistent practice for improvement.
• Traditional speech exercises can be tedious, impacting adherence.
• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated remote and less contact-intensive therapy methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and propose two serious games to enhance motivation in children with sigmatism during speech exercises.
• To provide a tool for both home-based practice and clinical speech therapy sessions (face-to-face and online).

Main Methods:

• Implementation of two serious games incorporating automatic speech recognition (ASR) for speech production classification.
• Integration of visual and auditory feedback systems to guide children's performance.
• Inclusion of a hint system to assist with correct exercise execution.
• Utilization of a dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) system to tailor challenges based on individual progress.

Main Results:

• The proposed serious games effectively motivate children with sigmatism to engage in speech exercises.
• The games provide immediate, actionable feedback and adaptive challenges.
• The system demonstrates potential for use in diverse therapeutic settings, including remote and in-person sessions.

Conclusions:

• Serious games offer a promising approach to increase motivation and adherence in pediatric speech therapy for sigmatism.
• The integration of ASR, feedback, and DDA enhances the therapeutic efficacy of digital interventions.
• These games represent an adaptable solution for speech and language pathologists adapting to evolving healthcare delivery models.