4th Workshop on Speech and Language Processing for Assistive Technologies

ACL Special Interest Group on Speech and Language Processing for Assistive Technologies


Topics of interest

AAC is a particularly apt application area for speech and NLP technologies. While we will encourage work that validates methods with human experimental trials, we will also consider work on basic-level innovations, inspired by AT/AAC related problems. Thus we are aiming for a broad inclusivity, which is also manifest in the diversity of our confirmed Program Committee.

Following the format of the three previous workshops on this topic, the workshop will be composed of paper presentations, a demo and poster session, as well as a unique panel discussion involving not only those working on researching and developing assistive technologies, but also consumers of these technologies. This "user panel" has been a highlight of both previous workshops.

Topics of interest for submission to the workshop include (but are not limited to):

  • Automated processing of sign language
  • Speech synthesis and speech recognition for physical or cognitive impairments
  • Speech transformation for improved intelligibility
  • Speech and Language Technologies for Assisted Living
  • Translation systems; to and from speech, text, symbols and sign language
  • Novel modeling and machine learning approaches for AAC/AT applications
  • Text processing for improved comprehension, e.g., sentence simplification or text-to-speech
  • Silent speech: speech technology based on sensors without audio
  • Symbol languages, sign languages, nonverbal communication
  • Dialogue systems and natural language generation for assistive technologies
  • Multimodal user interfaces and dialogue systems adapted to assistive technologies
  • NLP for cognitive assistance applications
  • Presentation of graphical information for people with visual impairments
  • Speech and NLP applied to typing interface applications
  • Brain-computer interfaces for language processing applications
  • Speech, natural language and multimodal interfaces to assistive technologies
  • Assessment of speech and language processing within the context of assistive technology
  • Web accessibility; text simplification, summarization, and adapted presentation modes such as speech, signs or symbols
  • Deployment of speech and NLP tools in the clinic or in the field
  • Linguistic resources; corpora and annotation schemes
  • Evaluation of systems and components, including methodology
  • Anything included in this year's special topic
  • Other topics in Augmentative and Alternative Communication