Editorial

Citation

Abbott, C. (2013), "Editorial", Journal of Assistive Technologies, Vol. 7 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/JAT-05-2013-0013

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Assistive Technologies, Volume 7, Issue 3.

In this general issue of the Journal of Assistive Technologies (JAT) we bring you four peer-reviewed papers. Several of these papers have been revised during the reviewing process, and the authors have expressed their gratitude for the support given to them by our panel of reviewers. I would like to add my thanks to these people; some of them are members of the JAT Editorial Board but others are approached to review particular papers because they have expertise in the topic area. We have built up a tradition at JAT of timely, constructive and detailed reviews, and this is in no small part due to the expertise and assistance of our reviewers.

We begin this issue with two papers from the UK. Matthew Oppenheim from the School of Computing and Communications at Lancaster University introduces a speech and touch interface for the visually impaired. The system uses a combination of touch sensors, audio tags and tactile controls, to enable visually impaired users to control complex and previously inaccessible electronic devices such as a digital radio. Having demonstrated proof of the concept through initial evaluation, Oppenheim suggests that the technology could be used with a variety of devices. The challenge, as ever, is to persuade mainstream manufacturers to build such assistive technology into their products; something they are often resistant to doing, even when, as here, the unit cost is low. Oppenheim also provides links to videos of the system in operation with a cassette player and on an Android device. JAT welcomes the addition of web links to articles, and we encourage other authors to consider this enhancement to their papers.

Our second UK paper is from the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Pradipta Biswas, Gokcen Aslan Aydemir and Pat Langdon describe the development and validation of a hearing impairment simulator. The aim is that such a simulator could be used by digital content developers to understand the nature of the auditory perception of users with hearing impairments. Part of a bigger project which is developing a range of impairment simulators, this development and validation is presented as fit for use by designers rather than in a clinical setting. It is to be hoped that use of such a simulator – or at least the greater awareness of the issue on the part of content developers – might lead to a reduction in the background noise interference which can cause so many problems for some viewers or listeners. The interaction of designers and impaired consumers is not always a mutually productive one, and this paper raises an issue analogous to that whereby printed material is sometimes made less accessible to those with visual impairment as a result of the designer-led combination and overlay of text and image.

Our first paper from South Africa is also the first of our two international peer-reviewed papers this month. Daniel Mpia Ndombo and Sunday Ojo from the Department of Computer Science at the Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, together with Isaac Osunmakinde from the Semantic Computing Group at the University of South Africa, consider a model of what they describe as an intelligent integrative assistive system for dyslexic learners. The team aimed to go beyond generic technology assistance for this group, and to develop their model following a review of the literature on this topic. In particular, the group focus on the very different range of technologies available in the developed world compared to that available to many learners in developing countries such as South Africa. After an extensive review of recent literature on dyslexia, the group consider appropriate models for the South African context. Their paper forms a useful reference guide for others seeking to develop assistive technologies to support learners with dyslexia.

Our second international paper is from Korea, another first for JAT since we have not published a paper from that country before. This paper has been developed from a presentation at the ICCHP 2012 (computers helping people with special needs) Conference in Austria, the source of the papers in our special issue JAT 7.2. This paper also has perhaps the longest list of authors of any paper we have published, with 11 names on the title page: Sunhee Kim, Yumi Hwang, Daejin Shin, Chang-Yeal Yang, Seung-Yeun Lee, Jin Kim, Byunggoo Kong, Jio Chung, Namhyun Cho, Ji-Hwan Kim and Minhwa Chung. The authors represent a number of institutions including Seoul National University, Sogang University, Infinity Telecom, Diotek, Weavers TnC, GO Design Studio and E-ROOM Consulting. Chung and his team describe the development of a mobile Voice User Interface, with the particular needs of Korean users with dysarthria in mind. Following a series of usability surveys, the team developed a prototype design based on an isolated word recognition engine with word prediction. They suggest that their Voice User Interface system has the potential to be used in other contexts as an alternative input device for people with speech impairment and other physical disabilities.

We welcome the increasing number of papers submitted to JAT from outside the UK, in addition to our regular UK submissions, and we hope to continue to bring an international dimension to our readers as we share the best of research and development in assistive technologies.

Chris Abbott