The Leveraged Freedom Chair Helps the Disabled in Developing Countries Gain Independence

The Mechanics of the Leveraged Freedom Chair (photo courtesy of the GRIT website)Check out the Global Research Innovation & Technology’s website to see learn about their awesome product, the Leveraged Freedom Chair. With this “mountain bike of wheelchairs,” the team at GRIT aims to help disabled people in developing countries to maneuver through rough terrain.  As the below video mentions, there are 20 million people in developing countries who need a wheelchair. We applaud GRIT and their efforts to help them more effectively and enjoyably live their lives. 

Click the following link for the Global Research Innovation & Technology’s website and check out the video below to see the Leveraged Freedom Chair in action.

New Technology Gives those without Speech the Gift of Their Own Voice

Samantha Grimaldo shown above courtesy of NPRSamantha Grimaldo, born with a rare disorder called Perisylvian syndrome, lost her ability to speak and has always needed to carry a machine to do the talking for her. She types in what she wants to say and the device repeats those words out loud. Even though the voice device nowadays is much smaller and portable, Samantha doesn’t like the sound of the voice that speaks for her. “Because it’s weird and older. I don’t want people to hear,” says 17-year-old Samantha.

Fortunately, Rupal Patel, a speech scientist at Northeastern University, is on a mission to individualize voices for the speaking device. She has asked kids with speech disorders to come into her lab and make a throaty “ahhhhh” sound. She records the sound, runs it through the computer and analyzes its inherent characteristics. “We can determine their pitch, the loudness, the breathiness of their voice, and the changes in clarity,” Patel says. Rupal Patel, Speech Scientist at Northeastern University, shown above (photo from NPR) Next, she takes the recording of a similar voice and combines it with the pitch, breathiness and other determined characteristics to create a unique voice for each individual. Samantha is one of the first to experience this new technology and it turns out that her voice is clear, light, and definitely one of a young girl her age.

Check out the following link to read or listen to this story as reported on National Public Radio News: "New Voices for the Voiceless: Synthetic Speech Gets an Upgrade," by Alex Spiegel

BrainLine.org: "20 Life-Changing Android Apps for People with Brain Injury"

We recently learned of BrainLine.org which offers many great resources for "preventing, treating, and living with traumatic brain injury." Click here to check out BrainLine's new segment on smartphone apps that can help those living with brain injuries.

"Writing with your eyes?"

This article describes a prototype being developed by researchers in Paris that allows its users to write with their eyes! This device picks up on eye movements and is able to translate it to written strokes on a screen. Click the link to read more about this on ABC News and don’t forget to check out the video too!

"New Technology Lets People Write Just with their Eyes," article on ABC News