Optimizing Assisted Communication Devices for Children With Motor Impairments Using a Model of Information Rate and Channel Capacity

Cerebral Palsy Clinical Trial

Official title:

Optimizing Assisted Communication Devices for Children With Motor Impairments Using a Model of Information Rate and Channel Capacity

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00352326
• Other study ID #: FITTS PILOT
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: July 12, 2006
• Last updated: May 18, 2017
• Start date: January 2006
• Est. completion date: December 2014

Study information

• Verified date: May 2017
• Source: University of Southern California
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

For children who depend on devices to communicate, the rate of communication is a primary determinant of success. For children with motor impairments, the rate of communication may be limited by inability to contact buttons or cells rapidly or accurately. It is therefore essential to know how to adjust the device interface in order to maximize each child's rate of communication. The optimal rate of communication is determined by the Channel Capacity, which is the maximum value of the Information Rate for all possible keyboard button or cell layouts for the communication device. We construct a mathematical model for the information rate based on the relationship between movement time and the number of buttons per screen, the size of the buttons, and the length of a sequence of buttons that must be pressed to communicate each word in the vocabulary. We measure the parameters of the model using a custom-programmed touch-screen interface.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 29
• Est. completion date: December 2014
• Est. primary completion date: December 2014
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 5 Years to 25 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:- Use of Dynavox ability to follow two-step commands impairment in arm function

Exclusion Criteria:- increased risks of study

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Cerebral Palsy

Intervention

Device:
• reprogramming assisted communication device interface
The subjects were required to touch targets on the iPad® screen with the index finger of their preferred (less-affected) arm. The experimental task consisted of 180 targets divided in 4 blocks: 45 targets each block with a 1-minute interval between trials to avoid fatigue. Targets appeared at 1 of 9 different locations on the screen, and subjects moved their finger sequentially from one target to the next.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Stanford University School of Medicine	Stanford	California

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Southern California

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States,