Technology to Aid Persons with Disabilities

Interdisciplinary projects involving the application of biomedical engineering design principles to products developed for people with a wide range of disabilities are ongoing among BME-affiliated faculty and students. Brooke Hallowell, associate professor of hearing, speech, and language sciences, leads this effort. Examples of projects include adaptive easels and painting devices for artists with disabilities, sensory stimulation devices for people with severe cognitive impairments, medication time/dosage reminder and tracking devices for clients with memory impairments, computerized touch screen programs to assess language comprehension of stroke patients, and software to support research on novel methods to improve computerized communication for children who cannot speak.