AI and augmentative communication: where are we and where to go?

The author discusses the motivations behind the application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in augmentative communication, describes the representative research activities in augmentative communication, and explores the potential research areas which merge AI and augmentative communication. Current research on augmentative communication consists of three areas of concentration: clinical study, device assessment, and design methodologies. Clinical study focuses on identifying the types and levels of dysarthria that can be matched to the use of certain `assistive´ technologies, for example, use of speech synthesis and recognition to assist voice communication. The other two areas focus on the assessment of existing augmentative communication devices and design methodologies for new augmentative communication devices, respectively