PENANG, 14 December 2020 - Specific Language Impairment (SLI) is a disorder wherein an individual cannot master a spoken and written language, although no apparent handicapping conditions can be identified.  

Dr. Jong Hui Ying, a researcher and lecturer from the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) School of Humanities stated that various tools have been used to diagnose SLI. However, inconveniences continue to grow due to the fact that SLI detection remains largely unautomated.  

That has prompted Jong to researched into this area which is also her area of expertise, and she has successfully come up with an automated tool named the Psycholinguistics Software Tool (PST) that could benefit all those concerned.   

She described, “The Psycholinguistics Software Tool (PST) is an integrated system which offers preliminary screening or detection of Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and music intervention.”

“Usually, detecting or screening and treating SLI is ‘manual labour’ for therapists; there are many complex screening and treatment methods in schools and clinics. In addition, there are too many different (and expensive) tools in market. 

“Manual SLI detection requires separate use of various, standalone equipment and the equipment can be cost-intensive, or not widely available. Thus, an integrated, cost-effective, computer-aided SLI diagnosis approach - the Psycholinguistics Software Tool (PST) - is being proposed to introduce automation to the process, hence countering the mentioned inconveniences,” she said. 

Other advantages in the application of this project include the cost reduction in terms of SLI preliminary screening or detection and treatment; reduced ties of SLI preliminary screening to costly equipment; Web application model guarantees wide availability and far reach; possibility of use under supervision of teacher or speech-language pathologist; relatively simple, straightforward use cases; and therapists no longer need to switch between tools to screen and treat SLI. 

“The tool will also provide music therapy for SLI children to work towards better speech production and comprehension. This approach is hypothesized to be able to increase the effectiveness and reduce the overall cost required to detect SLI,” she added further. 

Among the many impact in using the tool are it would raise the awareness in the community about SLI; promote the use of technology for benefit of children with language disorder or impairment; reduce the economic burden of children with SLI through reduced cost and increased effectiveness in the screening and treatment practices; and it has a negligible impact towards the environment, as there is no by-product except for carbon footprint from general Internet use. 

This invention recently won Jong a gold medal for USM at the 31st International Invention, Innovation and Technology Exhibition (ITEX 2020) held in virtual mode in Kuala Lumpur.

This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was held in a unique manner which required all participants to submit a video to demonstrate and explain their invention, following a new norm exhibition format and competition curated by the organisers of ITEX.

Despite the worldwide pandemic, the exhibition still managed to attract a large number of participants from 15 countries which represented 21 local universities, 5 research institutes and 1 corporate body.

Text: Hafiz Meah Ghouse Meah