Development of an interactive and motivating home-based speech and language therapy platform for stroke survivors

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64% of stroke survivors have communication difficulties including slurred speech, quiet and hoarse voice, and difficulty understanding others or expressing themselves. These difficulties put off the joy and confidence to get out and socialise, leading to an increased risk of depression and reduced independence and quality of life.Studies have shown that intensive speech training (45 minutes of speech training per day and 5 days a week) helps improve speech recovery. However, the public healthcare system cannot cope with the growing demands, resulting in months of waiting time and insufficient treatment services for most patients. As a result, many stroke survivors have to live with these debilitating speech impairments.Beautiful Voice has been developing a digital personal coach to help patients continue high-quality speech training at home, aiming to maximise therapy outcomes while reducing the burden on carers and healthcare professionals. Additionally, by providing information about users' speech quality, Beautiful Voice allows patients to understand their speech issues better, helping them monitor and self-manage their conditions, and communicate with professionals more easily. Beautiful Voice also assists speech and language therapists to more efficiently assess patients' conditions and make clinical decisions.As a computer-based home speech training platform, one of the biggest challenges for this solution is to create training that is not only effective but also engaging and motivating for patients to use on a daily basis. This is the central question for this project: how can home speech training be more fun for patients, families and carers?In collaboration with Lab4Living from Sheffield Hallam University, we will conduct workshops and activities with stroke survivors and their carers to identify and test key features that can enhance user engagement and adherence to the platform. Over the course of 6 months, 15 volunteers will assist us in this, codesigning and testing solutions in real life. Topics that will be explored include gamification of exercises, community-based interactions, and real-life practice activities.The study findings will help Beautiful Voice improve the platform training activities to be more engaging and motivating, which leads to better speech rehabilitation at home. Thus, improving patients' independence, confidence and ability to socialise in daily lives, as well as reducing costs for the NHS and households.