Many people have some sort of disability which impairs their ability to communicate. Work in alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) devices attempts to address this need. For example, people who have speech impairments may use a text-to-speech generator, or a system which synthesises speech based on input using an alternative symbol system. Prosthetic devices of this sort must be usable in a great variety of settings. They should enable the user to be a full participant in ordinary conversations, to lead transactional encounters and to prepare speech for more formal occasions. The extent to which this is possible depends on a number of factors, both physical and cognitive. The speech impairment may be due to a physical disability which has no effect on the person's linguistic ability, or it may be due to a cognitive, language impairment. Often, some combination of physical and cognitive disabilities is involved. Other communication aids include systems designed for deaf users and text-to-speech devices for people with vision impairments.
NLP techniques are currently in use in such devices but substantial improvement in performance is clearly possible. AAC provides the NLP researcher with relatively tractable applications of potential utility to millions of people worldwide. The aim of the workshop is to provide a forum in which researchers in communication aids for people with disabilities can discuss the problems involved in these applications and the solutions being investigated in current research. We also hope that researchers in all areas of CL/NLP will participate, to discuss ways in which their own work could contribute, even if they are not currently working on these applications.
We seek papers which describe the utilisation of NLP in communication aids, including AAC devices for the speech and language-impaired, sign language interpretation and translation, and intelligent text-readers for blind people. We would also welcome contributions which describe the use of NLP techniques in aids for rehabilitation and training for language impairment. Participation by NLP researchers whose work might be applied in these areas is encouraged, possibly including:
These topics are intended as suggestions only: contributions would be welcome from any researchers with an interest in applying CL/NLP techniques to aid people with disabilities.
Papers should be previously unpublished: a paper accepted for presentation at this workshop cannot be presented or have been presented at any other meeting with published proceedings. Parallel submission is allowed; however if your paper is accepted for this workshop and you decide to present it here, we will ask you to withdraw it from any other events.
Papers will be reviewed by the program committee, with additional reviewers being recruited if necessary. Papers must not exceed 3200 words (excluding references). Electronic submission is strongly preferred, either as a self-contained LaTeX file or PostScript. Hard copy submissions should include eight copies of the paper. Final versions of accepted papers will be required in LaTeX using a standard submission style (to be made available via WWW/ftp). Papers will be published in the workshop proceedings: if the papers submitted are of a sufficiently high quality, a book may subsequently be produced by CSLI Publications.
We welcome presentations which include system demonstrations or video - audio-visual requirements should be described when the paper is submitted.
Since attendance at the workshop will be limited to a total of about 40 people, potential participants who do not wish to present a paper should send a brief (max 100 word) description of interest to the address below by April 28th. Potential participants who would like an overview of AAC before the workshop might want to consult: McCoy et al, 1990: `Applying Natural Language Processing techniques to Augmentative communication systems' in proceedings of Coling-90 and Edwards (editor), 1995: `Extra-ordinary human-computer interaction' Cambridge University Press which contains several relevant papers. Also see abstracts of the recent workshop on NLP and communication aids for non-speaking people.
Submissions due March 28th 1997
Statements of interest due April 28th 1997
Authors notified (by email) April 28th 1997
Final versions due May 30th 1997
Ann Copestake
CSLI
Ventura Hall
Stanford University
Stanford
CA 94305-4115
USA
aac@csli.stanford.edu
tel: +1 415 725 2312
Ted Briscoe, University of Cambridge Ann Copestake, Stanford University Marianne Hickey, University of Dundee Sheri Hunnicutt, KTH Stefan Langer, University of Dundee Kathleen McCoy, University of Delaware Sira E. Palazuelos-Cagigas, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid