Have you ever felt like you know exactly what you want to say, but just can’t get the words out? Having a word on the tip of your tongue can be frustrating at the best of times, but for people with communication difficulties, it can be a constant struggle to find the right words, make sentences and connect with others.
Now, a new Adelaide University program is using virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) to create a safe space where people with speaking and communication difficulties can practise everyday conversations – from ordering a coffee to shopping for groceries – without the pressure of the real world.
The Virtual Interactive platform to Treat Anomic Language (VITAL) is being developed as a virtual town square, complete with shops, restaurants, hardware stores, hairdressers and other familiar places where people can practise finding words, asking questions and having conversations.
Anomic language is when a person struggles to find the word they want to say or write down. It is a hallmark feature of the language disorder aphasia which affects how you use and understand language. These sorts of language difficulties occur when part of the brain is damaged, often due to a stroke, a traumatic brain injury, or certain types of dementia. In Australia about 140,000 people live with aphasia.
Funded by an NHMRC Ideas Grant and led by Adelaide University Professor Maria Kambanaros, the project aims to make communication therapy more realistic and engaging, while investigating whether VR can improve communication confidence, social participation, wellbeing and quality of life for people with anomia.
Professor Kambanaros said everyday interactions that most people take for granted can become challenging for someone living with aphasia.
“Something as simple as ordering a coffee, asking a question in a shop or chatting to someone you don’t know can require enormous effort when you have aphasia,” Professor Kambanaros said.
“You know what you want to say but just cannot make the words come out. It can be extremely stressful and isolating because it limits a person’s ability to connect and communicate with others.
“VITAL is all about creating a safe and realistic place where people can practise everyday interactions repeatedly, but without the pressure or fear of getting something wrong.
“Our goal is not only to improve someone’s ability to find the right words, but to help people communicate with greater confidence in their everyday lives.”
Importantly, VITAL is being co-designed with people with aphasia, alongside family members, communication partners, speech pathologists and researchers.
Through interviews, group discussions and workshops, participants will help determine which places and activities should be included in the virtual world, how conversations should work and how the technology can be made comfortable and accessible.
For project manager Dr Matthew Berryman, the research is deeply personal.
A researcher, software engineer and stroke survivor who has himself experienced word-finding difficulties, Dr Berryman was inspired to create a virtual café where he could practise his own speaking.
In the café, he could order coffee, speak with a salesperson and chat with a barista, while practising speaking slowly and clearly and applying techniques taught by his speech therapists.
“I practised ordering a coffee again and again, without worrying about holding up a queue or feeling embarrassed if the words didn’t come out the way I wanted them to,” Dr Berryman said.
“Then recently, when I went into a real café and ordered a coffee, I noticed something had changed. I felt more confident, more fluent and more at ease.
“I know this was only a small everyday interaction, but for me it was a significant moment. And it showed how this kind of technology could potentially help others living with communication difficulties.”
Dr Berryman said the ability to practise everyday situations could help bridge the gap between speech therapy and communicating in the real world.
“You learn language and communication strategies in therapy, but eventually you have to take those skills out into the community, where conversations are often unpredictable and there’s far more pressure,” he said.
“Virtual reality gives us an opportunity to create that middle ground – somewhere people can practise, make mistakes, try again and build their confidence before facing the same situation in real life.”
The research team is also exploring how other people, including stroke survivors and speech pathologists, could enter the virtual environment to enable real-time interactions and telehealth sessions.
Professor Kambanaros said the team hopes VITAL will contribute to new, accessible approaches to communication therapy in Australia.
“Communication is fundamental to how we participate in our communities and maintain our relationships and independence,” Professor Kambanaros said.
“If we can use technology to give people more opportunities to practise communicating in ways that are meaningful to them, we have the potential to make a real difference beyond the therapy room.”
