We use signal processing techniques to investigate neurological and physiological disorder from audio signals.
Research Projects
Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies in order to provide clinical health care at a distance. We have been focusing on two specific applications within this domain: automating cognitive assessments and developing technology for adherence monitoring for medications delivered by inhalers.
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Automated Cognitive assessments |
This project has been concerned with developing an automated cognitive assessment that can be administered remotely over the telephone. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems is a technology that enables callers to interact with a software application. The automation of a cognitive assessment would provide a low cost solution to monitoring cognitive function in a large population of people, in order to identify the early on set of cognitive decline. This project had two challenges:
This project developed an IVR application for cognitive assessment which was successfully completed by 61 older adults, all cognitively intact. The administration of the assessment is fully automated, while the automation of scoring the tasks is on-going. |
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Inhaler adherence monitoring |
We have developed a device for monitoring adherence to inhaler use. Patients who require inhalers to deliver medications directly to their lungs have been found to constantly miss doses of their medication. This can lead to deterioration in their conditions and further medical assistance. By monitoring a patients use of their inhaler, a clinician can determine if they are indeed taking their medication as prescribed. A second problem associate with inhaler use is technique errors. Common errors in inhaler technique include emptying one's lungs in the direction of the inhaler and dispersion the drug from the inhaler and not holding one's breath for 5 seconds after inhalation. These errors in technique can equate to missed doses if the drug is not present in the inhaler or if it has not have the opportunity to absorb into the lungs. The INCA device can assess the success rate in ones inhaler technique to maximise the effectiveness of medication. Trials are currently underway to assess the improvement in patients adherence when provided with feedback from the monitoring device. The trial are also concerned with determining if an increase in adherence correlates with an improvement in their medical condition. |
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TRIL |
Technology Research for Independent Living. This projects was part of a multi-disciplinary study using technology to enable older adults to live independently for as long as possible. We developed and administered and automated cognitive assessment, specifically targeted at older adults. The assessment was designed using user centred design principles and implemented using Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology. This IVR application used speech as the means of collecting input from the user and employed Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) engine to score many of the tests. |