Talk-More: a device to monitor talking time

我正在开发一种监测说话时间的设备，以支持中风等脑损伤后的语言恢复。这款设备类似于运动跟踪器，但用于语音，被称为Talk-More。我们知道，在任何类型的脑损伤后，提高语言能力的最好方法是练习，练习，然后再练习。我是一名言语和语言治疗师，我知道中风或脑损伤的人有很高的社交孤立风险。交谈可能是一项艰苦的工作，特别是当它听起来不清楚或与以前不同的时候。人们可能会对自己的演讲感到尴尬，减少社交。不管怎样，随着年龄的增长，社交孤立和孤独会更多地发生，我们知道这会导致糟糕的身心健康。在与中风幸存者交谈时，他们建议，追踪说话时间的设备可以像运动追踪器激励人们一样激励人们。我与曼彻斯特大学的一些工程师谈过，他们与我合作开发了这种语音跟踪设备的原型。它不会记录人们的讲话，但会监控此人的每一次讲话。我们需要做更多的工作来看看人们对它的看法，它的使用有多容易，他们使用它有多舒服。希望这款设备将鼓励人们考虑参与社交活动，增加他们的通话时间，从而帮助他们恢复语言能力，减少社交孤立。

I am developing a device to monitor talking time to support speech recovery after brain injury such as stroke. This device is like an exercise tracker but for speech and is called Talk-More. We know that the best way to improve speech after any sort of brain injury is to practice, practice and then practice some more. I'm a speech and language therapist and know that people who have a stroke or brain injury are at high risk of social isolation. Talking can be hard work, particularly if it sounds unclear or different to how it did before. People can feel embarrassed about their speech and cut down on socialising.Social isolation and loneliness can happen more as people get older anyway and we know that this leads to poor physical and mental health.Talking to stroke survivors they suggested that a device to track talking time could motivate people in the same way exercise trackers motivate people. I spoke to some engineers at the University of Manchester, and they have worked with me to develop a prototype of this speech tracking device. It does not record people but monitors each time the person talks. We need to do some more work to see what people think of it, how easy it is to use and how comfortable they feel using it. Hopefully this device will encourage people to think about engaging socially and increase their talking time to both help their speech recovery and reduce social isolation.