A serious game for children with speech disorders and hearing problems

Speech impediment affecting children with hearing difficulties and speech disorders requires speech therapy and much practice to overcome. To motivate the children to practice more, serious games can be used because children are more inclined to play games. In this paper, we have designed and implemented a serious game in which children can learn to speak specific words that they are expected to know before the age of 7. The game consists of an avatar controlled by the child through speech, with the objective of moving the avatar around the environment to earn coins. The avatar is controlled by voice commands such as Jump, Ahead, Back, Left, Right. Children will be guided by an arrow during the game instead of a getting help from a therapist or a teacher to guide the child to the next coin. This allows the child to practice longer hours, compared to clinical approaches under the supervision of a therapist, which are time-limited.