The goal of the TalkBox project is to develop an open-source, open-hardware Speech Generating Device (SGD). It provides non-verbal students in special education a way to build a low-cost, easily configurable SGD with the help of their teacher. The TalkBox project has been developed as a collaboration between the GaMaY Lab at the Lassonde School of Engineering, Ray Feraday and myself.

The Toronto Star has an article on the 2014 IDeA competition TalkBox was a finalist in, and did an interview with me:

Please see here for setup instructions and details on how you can make your own!

Update 2015: Recent TalkBox Activity

Publications:

• Hamidi, Foad, Melanie Baljko, Toni Kunic, and Ray Feraday. “Do-It-Yourself (DIY) assistive technology: a communication board case study.” 14th International Conference, ICCHP, pp. 287-294. Springer, Cham, 2014.
• Hamidi, Foad, Melanie Baljko, Toni Kunic, and Ray Feraday. “TalkBox: a DIY communication board case study.” Journal of Assistive Technologies 9, no. 4 (2015): 187-198.

Workshops:

In collaboration with the Tetra Society of North America, the GaMaY lab conducted a free workshop at the 2014 Toronto Mini Maker Faire, in which we helped children with disabilities make and customize their very own TalkBox.

Awards:

• 2014 Bridge the Gap Award Winner.
• 2014 Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA) Competition Finalist.

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