Speech Therapy Articulation Rehabilitation (STAR)

STAR logo

About the project

STAR will deliver new computer-based articulation therapy using apps for tablet computers, which patients use to administer their own therapy.

Articulation therapy is used to improve the speech of people with speech impairment but is time consuming and patients rarely receive sufficient therapy to maximise their communication potential. The apps developed by STAR will allow patients to receive more speech therapy without increasing demands on speech therapists time.

The STAR apps will be designed to meet the needs to two of the largest groups of patients who may require articulation therapy:

  1. Adults who have dysarthria as a result of stroke, brain injury or neurological disease.

  2. Children with hearing impairment.

Person using the STAR app on a tablet device

Previous research has shown that computer programs that use speech recognition can improve outcomes for adults with speech difficulties.

The apps will have the unique capability of recognising and assessing the speech of people with severe speech impairments, using advanced speech recognition technology already developed by the STAR team.

More about the STAR project (PDF, 692KB)

The STAR project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme (Grant Reference Number II-LB-0214-20008). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.