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Article 4. Portability

Today people who walk and don't talk can select from a variety of portable speech devices. For example, the Walker Talker, a computer and speaker worn around someone's waist, looks like a waist (fanny) pack, but delivers up to 60 recorded messages using a small 16 location touch pad.

Portability is a relative concept. It is relative to an individual's age, weight, manual dexterity, ambulation skills, and how they are likely to manage a device while walking. A person's characteristics can make any piece of equipment more (or less) portable. Important questions to ask in selecting a device are "What do you want it to do?" "Where do you want it to go?" and "How do you want to get it there?" Small, portable devices are not necessarily a person's only communication device. Many find them useful additions to their more powerful devices. They may be more effective in the car, for example. Table V (not included) gives examples of VOCAs weighing less than 3 lbs. (1360 gms). Some are text-based and have small keyboards. People can type messages and retrieve a limited number of stored messages that can be spoken. These devices have speech synthesizers. Many have at least some text-to-speech capability. An exception is Finger Foniks, which combines phonemes to produce speech. Light-weight devices for people who use graphic symbols also are listed. See Tables 11 and 111 (not included) for a more complete description.

When making decisions about devices that will be carried by an individual, those interviewed suggest we consider the size, weight, battery-life, availability of a carrying case, ruggedness, attractiveness, desired vocabulary size, positioning on the person's body, effect on an individual's weight distribution, and the nature and orientation of the display.

This article appears in ACN Volume 7, # 2.

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