The University is home to the only program in the United States utilizing the B.A. Bar device, a machine which can be used to aid people who are unable to speak or have impaired speech.
"To use it, the user programs words, phrases or even paragraphs of pre-recorded speech, and can then scan a specific barcode when they wish to say or drill a particular phrase," said Linda Meyer, communications services director at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center and a collaborator with the University research.
The research also focuses on the possibility of aiding autistic children in communication.
The device itself looks like a basic barcode scanner.
According to Meyer, the main focus at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center in Fishersville is speech practice.
"We also use the device as a way for Alzheimer's victims, who often lose the ability to pick specific words, to regain their vocabulary and speech abilities," Meyer said.
Research at the University is helping to aid stroke victims and other mentally impaired patients who have lost speaking abilities but now can use the B.A. Bar device as a personal speech therapist, using the barcodes for repetition and drilling usually used during speech therapy. The research also integrates different communication tools used by physically impaired patients.
"We use different ways to communicate -- sometimes signing is best for face-to-face communication and we use that in studies also," said Filip Loncke, a neurolinguist in the Education School specializing in augmentative communications and head of the University research on the B.A. Bar device.
Loncke has been researching the device for several years -- since it became available to the United States market.
According to Loncke, University students have also become involved with the groundbreaking research.
"We have been working on this for over two years, and at least nine graduate students and two undergrads have been involved, and they do a major part of the research and testing," Loncke said.
Though the device is used almost exclusively in Europe, the research here at the University is not only changing the way disabled people speak to others, but is also trying to expand the possibilities for the B.A. Bar device.
"We are exploring other possibilities for people to learn a second language," Loncke said.
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