Speakbook – brilliant new low tech eyetracker device, and it’s free! (well almost)

[patrick joyce]

Hi guys,
This is my first post here - I certainly recognize some of you!. I have ALS myself - 3 years now...

Do you use eyegaze? Or would you like to use eyegaze but haven’t got one? Have you lost your voice and your hands don’t work very well?
Then this is for you.
I’ve developed a low tech eyetracker device called speakbook, that is light years ahead of anything else available.

I want as many people as possible to benefit from this, so I’m making the PDF available for free, and you can have it made, local to you, for under $30. If you persuade your local/national ALS association to make it in bulk then this figure will drop to under $20.

I’ve made a website where you can learn all about it, and download the PDF
SpeakBook | non-verbal communication tools
And here is a direct link to the video we made, explaining how it works
Speakbook - How it works on Vimeo

Patrick

 

[rcharlton]

Patrick

We usually don't allow advertising on this site, but since you also include DIY instructions, I'll let it go. Unless of course Al has any objections.

 

[Al]

Looks pretty good to me.

AL.

 

[trfogey]

Great work, Patrick. Now, you just need a good programmer to make a software version of it for laptops and tablets and hook it up to a text-to-speech engine.

 

[patrick joyce]

Funny you should say that.... You haven't got, say, eight hours a day free for the next six months have you? I've got this great idea for some new AAC software....

 

[trfogey]

I can't type fast enough to do that kind of stuff any more, unfortunately. But I'm definitely interested in helping test anything you come up with.

BTW, if you're interested in "computerizing" Speakbook as it stands now, you could probably slap together a selection set in SAW5 (Special Access to Windows) representing the Speakbook flow in a matter of days. Probably would work well for headmouse and touchscreen users.

If you are interested in kicking ideas around, send me a PM over at PLM (same userID there as here -- trfogey). Or you can wait until you get enough posts here to get PM privileges here (somewhere more than 10 or 15 posts, maybe 20 -- it changes from time to time according to the number of spammers trying to register).

Of course, there are some ex-computer folks that lurk here too (nishant, GlenBrittle, ZenArcher-- you still out there?) that might also have some ideas and insight to offer. Here's your chance, folks -- AAC software designed by a PALS.

 

[HelenL]

Patrick, is that you in the video? Like the wink at the end.

 

[patrick joyce]

It is me. Guilty.

 

[Al]

I thought this is good enough to sticky.

AL.

 

[Ms. Pie]

I love it! So easy. Thanks for the links! The video is great too.

 

[arkallen]

What a simple, brilliant invention. Thanks Patrick, I am inspired!

 

[Daniel Hopper]

Patrick,
Awesome job. This is by far the best version I have seen. It's affordable as well. I sent the video link to my ALS office at Ohio State University. I would also like to put the link in my upcoming August issue of Rocker Magazine Online. Would you mind if I did that?

Dan Hopper

 

[notme]

Has anyone checked this out to see how it would work (I am SO not mechanical) I read a post the other day of a CAL whose PAL can't speak and they can't afford or are waiting for a dynavox

I posted on CL trying to find an inexpensive netbook and found one for $80--but it this would work, it's more in my budget (which is almost non-existent at the moment) to get for them.

 

[trfogey]

Patrick posted the following at Patients Like Me today:

I've just uploaded a new version of speakbook to the website for free download. The new, 4th edition, is suitable for everybody - including the colour blind. It's also got a finger pointing communication board for people who've still got a bit of hand movement left. I've also put up comprehensive DIY instructions, so you can more easily make your own. www speakbook org

For those of you who haven't heard of speakbook before, speakbook is a low tech eyetracker device, a communication system, designed for people who can't speak or use their hands. The PDF and instructions on how to make it are free to download on the website. Speakbook is intended to complement high tech communication solutions or work as a primary communication system. It is free and light years ahead of anything else available.

Speakbook is a non profit organisation, aiming to help people like us.

So, a new, expanded version and instructions on how to make your own version. It's not high-tech, but it can be darned effective with some thought and effort. Frankly, every PALS who has speaking difficulties needs to have this or something similar for emergency backup communication needs.

notme, Speakbook is not mechanical at all. It's basically a set of coordinated flipcharts where the PALS and the CALS play a structured version of Twenty Questions to figure out what the PALS wants to say. The only difficult part with it is organizing the starting categories and making sure that the physical structure of the book has been set up so that the PALS pages are mirror images of the CALS pages, so that the CALS doesn't have to translate the perspective as well as the direction the PALS is looking.

So, for each particular page of Speakbook, two PALS eye movements can identify one of 14 preset phrases placed on that page -- the other two options being Home (to change categories) or Spell (spell out something not in the book. For the Home page, you would identify eight categories of questions that would each be mapped to one of the eight tabbed pages. Then you would have seven slots on the page for very commonly used phrases. Finally, the Spell page is a well-structured letterboard to spell out those words that need to be spelled out.

Bottom line -- four PALS eye movements can identify any one of the preset 119 phrases that you would put in Speakbook. On the Spell page, two PALS eye movements will identify a particular letter or number. Therefore, with a little effort on the part of the preparer and some training on the part of both PALS and his/her caregivers, the only way a PALS should be locked-in is if he can't open his eyes or control his eye movement.

Hope this helps.

 

[notme]

This is something that Jason's Dream really needs. I saved it. Am going to take it and have a copy printed and laminated--just to see how it all looks together. My puter won't let me watch the video. I tried

Very awesome job, Patrick!