Development of an Accessible Telehealth Platform for Communication-Impaired Patients

Patients with hearing and speech differences encounter significant barriers in accessing health services, including difficulties during consultations, limited availability of sign language interpreters, inaccessible medical information formats, and challenges in managing healthcare appointments. Emergency communication systems often lack tailored solutions, increasing the risk of misunderstandings and reduced healthcare accessibility for this demographic.

A mid-sized healthcare organization specializing in inclusive patient care, aiming to improve communication access for individuals with hearing and speech challenges.

• Create an accessible telehealth application that bridges communication gaps for individuals with hearing and speech impairments.
• Ensure the platform supports real-time speech recognition, transcription, and text-to-speech functionalities to facilitate clear communication.
• Implement features enabling quick contact with emergency services via SMS, email, and GPS tracking.
• Develop tools for simplified scheduling, appointment management, and delivery of accessible health information in understandable formats.
• Achieve system response times of less than two seconds for speech processing features to ensure seamless user experience.
• Maintain stringent security and data privacy standards, including encrypted data transmission.

• Speech recognition transforming spoken language into text for easier understanding during consultations.
• Text-to-speech synthesis enabling users to communicate verbally via typed input.
• Real-time interpreting tools supporting multiple languages and dialects.
• Emergency contact functionalities via SMS, email, and GPS location sharing.
• Simplified appointment scheduling with notifications and alerts.
• Capacity to save and access conversation histories for reference.
• Personalized user settings to accommodate diverse communication needs.
• Accessibility compliance aligned with global standards to ensure barrier-free usability.

• Speech recognition and synthesis APIs
• Emergency services systems (SMS, email, GPS location tracking)
• Healthcare data management systems for retrieving diagnostic results
• Secure data encryption and authentication services

The new telehealth platform aims to significantly improve healthcare access and communication clarity for individuals with hearing and speech impairments. By providing real-time transcription, interpretation, and accessible information, it is expected to enhance safety, reduce misunderstandings during medical consultations, and enable prompt emergency communication. The system's high performance and security will foster greater trust and usage among the target population, ultimately promoting more equitable healthcare services.