Clinical trials for communication aids? A study provoked by the clinical trials of SPLINK

It is evident that evaluation of communication aids in a functional situation is a necessary part of their development, because of various psychological, social and practical factors related to their acceptability. This is indicated by many unexpected findings in the trial results of one such aid "SPLINK", presented here. This was a multicentre trial with 127 subjects aged between 7 - 82, all of whom had such severe communication problems that spontaneous conversation was limited. The results show that a substantial number of these speech handicapped would benefit from using this aid in various ways and that in some cases it can greatly improve their quality of life. The importance of selection of the aid for the patient and the necessity of expertise on part of the therapist is highlighted by the fact that 80% of users in a previous single centre trial benefitted as compared with 54% in this trial. There are strong indications that attitudes of speech therapists to communication aids range from strongly positive to totally negative; it is vital that they should at least be open-minded as their approach is crucial to outcome.