Repository logo
 

Expressive visual text-to-speech as an assistive technology for individuals with autism spectrum conditions.


Change log

Authors

Cassidy, SA 
Stenger, B 
Van Dongen, L 
Yanagisawa, K 
Anderson, R 

Abstract

Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) experience marked difficulties in recognising the emotions of others and responding appropriately. The clinical characteristics of ASC mean that face to face or group interventions may not be appropriate for this clinical group. This article explores the potential of a new interactive technology, converting text to emotionally expressive speech, to improve emotion processing ability and attention to faces in adults with ASC. We demonstrate a method for generating a near-videorealistic avatar (XpressiveTalk), which can produce a video of a face uttering inputted text, in a large variety of emotional tones. We then demonstrate that general population adults can correctly recognize the emotions portrayed by XpressiveTalk. Adults with ASC are significantly less accurate than controls, but still above chance levels for inferring emotions from XpressiveTalk. Both groups are significantly more accurate when inferring sad emotions from XpressiveTalk compared to the original actress, and rate these expressions as significantly more preferred and realistic. The potential applications for XpressiveTalk as an assistive technology for adults with ASC is discussed.

Description

Keywords

Assistive technology, Autism spectrum conditions, Emotion recognition, Intervention, Social cognition

Journal Title

Computer Vision and Image Understanding

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1090-235X
1090-235X

Volume Title

148

Publisher

Elsevier
Sponsorship
Medical Research Council (G0600977)
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (via Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) (unknown)
This research was conducted during an international research internship towards an MSc (Res) degree at Maastricht University, funded by Erasmus. This research also received support from the Centre for Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement, Coventry University, UK; the Autism Research Trust; the Medical Research Council UK; and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care East of England at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.