Eye tracking gives a voice to people with ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an acquired neurological disease that impacts approximately 1 in 50,000 people worldwide. It is also called motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. ALS progressively impacts a person’s ability to walk, use their hands, talk, eat and eventually breathe. Most people with ALS (pALS) are not impaired intellectually, even as they lose their ability to move and speak, which often makes them feel trapped inside their bodies. There is currently no cure. 

As ALS progresses, communication becomes essential to maintaining a meaningful life. A person with ALS will eventually have trouble speaking. It usually starts as an occasional, mild slurring of words and a slowing rate of speech. It becomes more severe until speech becomes difficult for others to understand or no longer functions at all. In recent Health Economic Studies, pALS said their quality of life doubled when they had access to a high-tech communication device that allowed them to express themselves and more fully participate in life.   

Providing more people with access to assistive communication 

Most people lack knowledge of assistive communication and its benefits, including many professionals who work with pALS. As such, many pALS do not get the support they need. Tobii Dynavox believes there is ample opportunity to improve awareness, solutions and standards so that those in need get the support to achieve their communication goals, all while delivering up to a
3x return on investment to society. 

Tobii Dynavox’s communication solutions enable people with disabilities to have a voice of their own. By offering guidance to professionals who recommend assistive communication to people with disabilities, Tobii Dynavox has provided hundreds of thousands of people worldwide with comprehensive solutions, which include hardware, software, clinically developed language systems, mounting solutions, funding expertise, training and dedicated support. By offering ongoing support to professionals who work with pALS, we can move closer to a world where everyone — even those in the most advanced stages of ALS — can communicate. 

Communication solutions for people with ALS 

At the onset of ALS, a person will often communicate with a touch device when they need to rest their voice. As ALS progresses and the ability to speak and move declines, a pALS can transition to an eye gaze device, which allows them to navigate, type and speak using just their eyes. Tobii Dynavox’s TD I-Series includes eye tracking — designed and developed in partnership with Tobii — that is purpose-built for people with disabilities. 

Through shared expertise about the needs of people with disabilities who require eye gaze, Tobii Dynavox and Tobii have set new standards for eye tracking in assistive communication. Taking a full-service approach to developing communication solutions, the businesses collaborated across software and hardware to make communication more natural and reliable for communicators.   

For example, with TD I-Series users are now able to: 

• Rely on one universal calibration profile to quickly navigate across applications 

• Make precise selections with fewer errors and faster speech 

• Control what they share and when they share it in a conversation via the Partner Window 

• Use their communication device unassisted when they wake up in the middle of the night  

• Speak anywhere and everywhere with outdoor eye tracking 

• Have an optimal Internet browsing experience 

• See through their device for more effective communication 

To better understand what’s possible through assistive communication, read TD I-Series-user Allistair’s story. Allistair is a husband, father and physician living with ALS. Thanks to his assistive communication device, he still enjoys cooking, chess and
joking with his family. 

The fusion of Tobii Dynavox’s expertise as a provider of communication solutions for people with disabilities and Tobii’s world leading eye tracking technology has created the gold standard for eye tracking in assistive communication. The needs, goals and dreams of people with ALS will continue to drive innovation into the future.