Talk: Giving Speech Impaired Persons Their Voice Back
Talk: Giving Speech Impaired Persons Their Voice Back
16 years old Arsh Shah Dilbagi has invented an innovative device which turns breath signals into speech through Morse code. The boy from Painipat, Hariyana has come up with the device which can help speech impaired and paralysed persons a chance to communicate verbally. Dilbagi is the only finalist from Asia to have been selected for the Google Science Fair in the year 2014.
The device has been named Talk and it has been built to give voice to those who have lost their own. Arsh has also indicated that this is the fastest and most affordable such gadget all over the world. Talk can be categorised as a Augmentative and Alternative Communications device and it costs only $80/Rs.5000. This will ensure that a wider group of people can buy this reasonably priced device.
Talk works in the following manner. It takes the input of the breath from the nose or the mouth of the person and then ensures that it is read through the means of Morse code. The machine then interprets the breath and change this into sentences so that the person can speak out loud.
Arsh had also been quoted by TOI as indicating that he wishes to improve the invention further. There are talks of adding audio-prediction to the computing engine along with the integration of this device's functions with those of Google Glass.
Dilbagi has also called himself a fan of science and is set to release the project for wide release in India. Talk is the official entry for the Google Global Science Fair by Dilbagi for the age groups 15 to 16 and it is an affordable device for use.
Dilbagi himself is a student in the 12th standard at the DAV Public School in Panipat and he is known as Robo among his classmates. He is a well known figure in the science world. In the year 2012, he received an honor from the President of India, Pratibha Patil at that time for developing a working prototype of the Autonomous UGV. Arsh is also a winner at the Indian Robot Olympiad in the year 2012 at the National level and 2011 in the regional level. He also won the first Lego League in the year 2011 at the regional level.
With around 1.4% of the people in the world suffering from disabilities, there is much good that can be done through devices like these. Dilbagi aspired to change the world through Talk which is an innovative low cost technology. People with developmental disabilities can use this device to use breath to communicate. Dilbagi calls it the "world's first and only wearable AAC device." He also stresses that 'Talk' would make the world simply "more connected for those 100 million people who are in need of such a device."
Current AAC devices are comparatively more bulky and generic. Talk scores on many points.
