Speaking Through Pictures: Images vs. Icons
Xiaojuan Ma, Jordan Boyd-Graber, Sonya Nikolova and Perry Cook
Eleventh International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2009)
Pittsburgh, PA, USA, October 26-28, 2009
Abstract
People who suffer from aphasia, a condition that impairs the ability to understand or generate written or spoken language are aided by assistive technology that helps them communicate through the selection of icons. These systems work similar to language translation systems, translating the icon arrangements into spoken or written language and vice versa. However, these icon-based systems have little vocabulary breadth or depth, making it difficult for people with aphasia to apply their icon-based vocabulary to real world situations. Pictures from the web that are numerous, varied, and easily accessible have the potential to solve this problem but it is not known how effective this substitution will be. We present results from two studies that investigate this potential and demonstrate that images can be as effective as icons when used as a replacement for English language communication. The first study investigates the efficacy of images vs. icons in conveying word meaning within sentence context with an elderly population; the second study examines the retention of word-level meaning by both images and icons with a population of aphasia sufferers. We conclude that images collected from the web are as functional as icons in conveying information and thus, are feasible candidates to use in the current assistive technology supporting people with aphasia.