ROBOT- ASSISTED SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY FOR CHILDREN WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENT

Abstract

Robots become very popular in research on learning, education and rehabilitation especially for children with disabilities. Our paper presents a study of a robot-assisted speech and language therapy session with eleven hearing-impaired children who use cochlear implant(s). The study explores the opportunity of using a humanoid robot for the development of speech, language and listening skills. NAO cannot articulate, therefore, children cannot do lip-reading. We considered that this special characteristic of the robot would provoke the participating children to use actively their listening. Results showed how NAO assisted speech and language therapy sessions with hearing-impaired children who use two different communication modalities – total communication and auditory-oral