Facilitating user feedback in the design of a novel joke generation system for people with severe communication impairment.

Abstract

Language-impaired children and adolescents have been found to have significantly poorer comprehension of humour than their peers with typical language development (O'Mara, 2004; Spector, 1990; Spector, 1992). The STANDUP (System To Augment Non-speakers Dialogue Using Puns) project is addressing this deficiency by providing software which allows the user to experiment with the construction of simple jokes. This computer-facilitated joke generation will allow non-speaking children to “play” with novel language in a similar way to children with typically developing language skills.