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arXiv · 2409.09170

Towards Precision Characterization of Communication Disorders using Models of Perceived Pragmatic Similarity

Nigel G. Ward·Andres Segura·Georgina Bugarini·Heike Lehnert-LeHouillier·Dancheng Liu·Jinjun Xiong·Olac Fuentes
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Abstract

The diagnosis and treatment of individuals with communication disorders offers many opportunities for the application of speech technology, but research so far has not adequately considered: the diversity of conditions, the role of pragmatic deficits, and the challenges of limited data. This paper explores how a general-purpose model of perceived pragmatic similarity may overcome these limitations. It explains how it might support several use cases for clinicians and clients, and presents evidence that a simple model can provide value, and in particular can capture utterance aspects that are relevant to diagnoses of autism and specific language impairment.

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Nigel G. Ward, Andres Segura, Georgina Bugarini, Heike Lehnert-LeHouillier, Dancheng Liu, Jinjun Xiong, Olac Fuentes. 2024-09-13. Towards Precision Characterization of Communication Disorders using Models of Perceived Pragmatic Similarity. https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.09170

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