Education

Talking aid set to give voiceless children a pun time

RESEARCHERS from three Scottish universities have developed a speech software package which will allow children who cannot speak to crack jokes - by computer.

The scientists at Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh universities believe humour can be used to help non-speaking children learn to use language more effectively.

They have adapted computer speech technology made famous by physicist Stephen Hawking to enable children who speak using computerised aids to construct and tell jokes.

The software package, dubbed Standup (System To Augment Non-speakers' Dialogue Using Puns), will be showcased to teachers and speech therapists in a two-day workshop at Dundee University this week.

One of the leading researchers, Dr Graeme Ritchie, of Aberdeen University's department of computing science, explained that research showed computerised speech aids, although helpful, could restrict the development of children's language skills.

While speaking children typically used humour to experiment with words and improve their social skills, those who used voice-output communication aids tended to stick to essentials, he said.

The Standup project has created software which allows children to generate novel puns.

"The software makes simple puns by looking for suitable patterns in the words and phrases which are available to it. The computer acts as a helper to the children, by letting them browse through joke forms and try out words and phrases."

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/education.cfm?id=1237502006

Last updated: 23-Aug-06 01:05 BST