There are an increasing number of people with debilitating speech pathologies (e.g., due to stroke, Parkinson’s, etc). These groups face communication problems that can lead to social exclusion. They are now being further marginalised by a new wave of speech technology that is increasingly woven into everyday life but which is not robust to atypical speech.

This thematic session will present research on the use of audio and speech processing for healthcare and wellbeing. In particular, we welcome papers on detecting, treating and living with pathological speech and associated conditions. It will bring together researchers from the fields of speech and language processing, medicine, psychology, as well as disciplines related health and aging and thus will contribute to the advancement of cross-disciplinary speech and language research.

In case you are interested presenting in this session, please contact Heidi Christensen (heidi.christensen (at) sheffield.ac.uk)