ANA: A Natural Language System with Multimodal Interaction for People Who Have Tetraplegia

Abstract

To interact with a computer, users with tetraplegia must to use special tools/devices that, in most cases, require a great effort. In online education, these tools normally become a distraction, which might hinder learning. Solutions like tongue mouses, smart glasses and computer vision systems, although promising, still face problems of use. This paper introduces ANA, a natural language system which can hear the student and see what is being presented on the interface. With new affordance, learning objects (LO)can have their own grammar, which allows a much more natural voice interaction. LOs respond either by audio or performing the requested action. Tests performed with people with tetraplegics show that the creation of such a shared workspace brings a statistically significant reduction in effort while taking on online lessons and their respective workshops.