On-demand individualised digital therapy for children, teenagers and adults who stammer: product development and research studies

抖动(美式英语中的口吃)是一种神经发育障碍，就像诵读困难或自闭症一样，从童年开始，大约12岁时变得慢性。它影响了8%的儿童和2%的青少年和成人(BSA，2022)。**主要未得到满足的需求是：*没有成本效益的持续/长期(慢性)支持：需要成本效益高的支持来自我管理慢性口吃(Ward，2018)。*没有公认的治疗口吃的“最佳实践”或“黄金标准”(Baxter等人，2016)，*昂贵的治疗以及缺乏口吃语言治疗的提供和培训(Bercoo，2018)。**产品愿景**Respira，一家总部位于英国的中小企业，已经建立了一个名为BeneTalk的数字治疗平台，可以解决上述所有未得到满足的需求，并通过建立针对口吃的言语治疗解决方案来解决社会不平等问题，即：1.人人都能获得(目前的发展)：按需提供支持，以自我管理慢性口吃，而无需专业支持干预。对每个人都有效(这个项目)：提供高度个性化的数字语言治疗。**项目机会**虽然没有针对口吃的标准治疗方案(即，没有黄金标准)，但科学界一致认为，必须高度个性化地治疗口吃(Baxter 2016，Manning&DiLollo，2017)。因此，该项目的动机是为PWS构建高度个性化的治疗解决方案，使BeneTalk成为第一个针对口吃的循证数字治疗(DTX)解决方案。**颠覆性方法**先前的InnovateUK赠款(参考编号：72343)使Respira能够通过开发BeneTalk来降低风险并积累内部专业知识。与现有技术解决方案相比，最大的创新是：1.实时反馈：实时的视觉、音频或触觉反馈，以学习修改言语模式和行为。语音跟踪：在任何演讲机会(诊所或/和练习环境之外)学习和练习。使用机器学习来改善治疗结果：利用从全球用户基础收集的数据(本项目)。基于社区的康复：社区言语实践和同伴支持。BeneTalk 2.0在英国和美国推出，具有高级功能，并开始产生时评，作为一种解决方案，比现有解决方案更便宜、更有效。**产出**该项目的主要目标是通过整合针对所有年龄段的个性化治疗，对BeneTalk进行进一步的技术改进，使其更具商业可行性。项目的主要产出是(在“可用期”内)：1.个性化治疗解决方案的原型和测试。通过改善患者及其家人(特别是父母)的生活质量，在患者中验证新的解决方案。

**Need**Stammering (or stuttering in US English) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, like dyslexia or autism, that starts in childhood and becomes chronic around 12 years of age. It affects 8% of children and 2% of teenagers and adults (BSA, 2022).**The main unmet needs are:*** No cost-effective ongoing/long-term (chronic) support: need for cost-effective support to self-manage chronic stammering (Ward, 2018).* No recognized "best practices" or "gold standard" exists for stammering treatment (Baxter et al., 2016),* Expensive therapy and lack of stammering speech therapy provision and training (Bercow, 2018).**Product Vision**Respira, a UK-based SME, has built a digital therapeutic platform called BeneTalk that can tackle all the above-mentioned unmet needs and address societal inequalities, by building a speech therapy solution for stammering that is:1. Accessible to everyone (current development): on-demand support to self-manage chronic stammering without professional support intervention.2. Effective for everyone (this project): delivering a highly personalised digital speech therapy.**Project opportunity**Although there are no standard care options for stammering (i.e., no gold standard), the scientific community agrees that stammering treatment has to be highly individualised (Baxter 2016, Manning & DiLollo, 2017). It is therefore the motivation of this project to build a highly individualised therapy solution for PWS, enabling BeneTalk to be the first evidence-based Digital Therapeutics (DTx) solution for stammering.**Disruptive approach**A previous InnovateUK grant (Ref: 72343) enabled Respira to de-risk and build in-house expertise by developing BeneTalk. Top innovations vs existing technological solutions are:1\. Real-time Feedback: Visual, audio or haptic feedback in real-time to learn to modify speech patterns and behaviours.2\. Speech Tracking: Learning and practice at any speaking opportunity (outside the clinic or/and practice environment).3\. Use of machine learning to improve therapy outcomes: leveraging gathered data from a global user base (this project).4\. Community-Based Rehabilitation: Community speech practice & peer support.BeneTalk 2.0 was launched with premium features in the UK and U.S., and started generating revue with as a solution 5 to 10x cheaper and more effective than existing solutions.**Outputs**The primary objective of this project is to make further technical improvements into BeneTalk to make it more commercially viable, by integrating individualised therapy for all ages. The main project outputs are (within the "availability period"):1. Prototyping and testing individualised therapeutics solutions.2. Validating the new solution with patients, by improving the quality of life of the users and their families (particularly parents).