SLPAT 2012 - Third Workshop on Speech and Language Processing for Assistive Technologies

Website http://slpat2012.csee.ogi.edu | Edit Freely

Category SLPAT 2012

Deadline: March 01, 2012 | Date: June 07, 2012-June 08, 2012

Venue/Country: Montreal, Canada

Updated: 2011-12-30 00:34:11 (GMT+9)

Call For Papers - CFP

From providing access to the web for individuals with severe motor impairments, to improving the intelligibility of speech spoken by individuals with speech impairments, the range of topics in Assistive Technology (AT) and Augmentative & Alternative Communication (AAC) that make use of (or could make use of) speech and natural language processing (NLP) technologies is very large. Yet the number of individuals actively working within the two research communities ? AT/AAC on the one hand and speech/NLP on the other ? is relatively small. This workshop will build on two previous workshops (the first co-located with NAACL-HLT 2010 in Los Angeles and the second with EMNLP 2011 in Edinburgh), bringing together individuals from both research communities and the individuals they are working to assist.

AAC is a particularly apt application area for speech and NLP technologies. While we will encourage work that validates the 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 two previous workshops on this topic, the WS will be composed of paper presentations, possibly an invited keynote talk, 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

Translation systems; to and from speech, text, symbols and sign language

Novel modeling and machine learning approaches for 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