The announcement by the family of movie star Bruce Willis that he is suffering from aphasia is bringing heightened attention to this surprisingly common affliction.
Pitt researchers at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences have formed university-industry-community partnership called “Aphasia Games for Health” targeted to help those with aphasia regain language skills and fight the isolation the condition can cause.
We caught up with Will Evans, assistant professor in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders, where he directs the Language Rehabilitation and Cognition Laboratory, to discuss aphasia and how he hopes to bring gamification to the forefront of therapy for the condition.
What is aphasia?
Aphasia is a language disorder caused by stroke and other acquired brain injuries. It affects over one-third of stroke survivors and over 2 million people in the United States. Aphasia impairs speaking, comprehension, reading, and writing ability. Aphasia frequently co-occurs with depression and anxiety and leads to low health-related quality of life and severe social isolation. This has major negative healthcare consequences, as reduced social contact has been associated with health risks equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day
What are the current treatments for the condition?
Behavioral treatments offered by speech-language pathologists can improve language function even decades after aphasia onset. Unfortunately, people with aphasia receive only limited therapy in the current medical model, mostly in the first year post-stroke. Therefore, novel solutions are needed to help people with aphasia fight social isolation and continue to improve language in the chronic phase of recovery.
What is Aphasia Games for Health?
Aphasia Games for Health is creating therapeutic language games designed to fight social isolation and improve language recovery at the same time. Games are a powerful way to connect with others and can be designed to implement rehabilitation principles from standard behavioral aphasia treatments, which improve language and communication through drill-based practice and strategy training.
What resources through the Pitt innovation ecosystem, and beyond, have gotten you to this point?
To date, our innovation has been funded through the Pitt Innovation Challenge (PInCh) and the Innovation Institute's First Gear program. Our team consists of speech-language pathologists and federally funded aphasia rehabilitation researchers, game design and human-computer interaction researchers, industry game designers, and the nonprofit Aphasia Recovery Connection, the largest online aphasia support community in the U.S.
We have completed customer interviews and aphasia prototype development using a participatory co-design process, funded by a $25,000 finalist prize from the 2019 Pitt Innovation Challenge and $3,000 from the summer 2020 First Gear program. This has resulted in the licensing of three aphasia game prototypes that people with aphasia can play with each other and/or with friends and family. These prototypes are currently available on our website for informal community playtesting:
The Minister’s Cat: https://www.aphasiagamesforhealth.com/the-ministers-cat
Audition: https://www.aphasiagamesforhealth.com/audition
Do You See What I See: https://www.aphasiagamesforhealth.com/do-you-see-what-i-see
In terms of next steps, they are looking for additional support to complete prototype refinement and pilot efficacy testing, then move towards startup formation as a socially conscious therapeutic game design company.
How did the Innovation Institute’s First Gear program help you begin your commercialization journey for Aphasia Games for Health?
I think what was most helpful in First Gear was all the work and support that led up to our final product pitch. Shifting from a research mindset to product development mindset was harder than I thought it would be; much more than just a shift in terminology. Our mentors helped my team rethink our idea in terms of product viability, sustainability planning, customer discovery, and helped us think about making compelling arguments for our low-cost therapeutic games from a socially conscious investor perspective.
If you are a Pitt researcher who believes your discoveries may have an impact outside the university, the next cohort of the First Gear program begins in May. Application deadline is April 28, 2022.