Jacquie Kurland, a professor at UMass Amherst, has received $1.06 million over three years from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). She will use this money to develop and test an AI tool that helps measure how well people with language problems, like aphasia, can communicate.
Aphasia is a condition that often happens after a stroke or brain injury. It can make it hard for people to speak, understand, read, or write. However, many people with aphasia can still share their thoughts in other ways.
Kurland says the goal is to improve real-life communication, not just pass old-fashioned tests. Current methods to measure communication are outdated and time-consuming. Some still use decades-old pictures that don’t reflect today’s world.
With this funding, Kurland will work with a team of experts in computer science, statistics, and healthcare. Together, they aim to create an open-source AI tool that can analyze how someone retells a story after watching it. For example, patients might watch a short video clip and then try to tell the story to someone else. The AI will then compare what was said to the original video and measure how well the main ideas were communicated.
This tool could help people with aphasia, as well as others with communication issues from brain injuries, strokes, dementia, or learning disabilities. It may also allow for better clinical trials and more personalized treatment plans.
The team will also speak with people with aphasia, their families, and doctors to make sure the tool works well in real-life settings. They hope the AI can also work with new, personal stories, not just preset videos.
Kurland says this research could change how communication problems are measured, helping doctors and researchers track real progress in speech and language abilities.
PCORI is a nonprofit group that funds research to help patients and doctors make better healthcare choices. Kurland’s award will be finalized once PCORI completes its review.
Source: umass
