COMPUTER-AIDED CONVERSATION - A PROTOTYPE SYSTEM FOR NONSPEAKING PEOPLE WITH PHYSICAL-DISABILITIES

This article describes the development, use, and initial evaluation of a prototype computer system to enable nonspeaking persons with severe disabilities to engage in conversation on broad topics. The conversat ional aid produced (via a voice synthesizer) speech acts that were sel ected from a prestored menu, which was constructed by the user. Featur es of the system included facilities for switching the conversational perspective between the speaker and listener (i.e., ''your experiences and views'' vs. ''my experiences and views''), providing a range of c omments on what the other speaker had said, effecting repair when ther e was a conversational breakdown, and following predicted sequences of speech acts. The initial trials of the system produced dialogues that proceeded in a natural way and achieved encouraging conversational ra tes.