Message formulation, organization, and navigation schemes for icon-based communication aids

Individuals with severe speech and motor impairments rely on assistive communication devices to convey their needs and desires in social, educational, and vocational situations. Users with limited motor control or literacy often choose to use icon-based devices that afford increased speed of message formulation at the cost of fully generative language formulation on letter-based devices. A major challenge with large vocabulary icon-based systems is rate of communication. Message formulation, vocabulary organization, and navigation schemes can be used to mitigate the trade-off between vocabulary size and communication rate. This paper summarizes our research efforts to leverage semantic frame theory, situational context, and rapid serial visual presentation to improve message formulation speed and completeness in our iconCHAT and RSVP iconCHAT systems. Usability data and persisting challenges are discussed.