This advanced method of treating stuttering is still young, but studies have continually emerged through time. This “remote” treatment of stuttering uses the low cost video conferencing.
Video conferencing is the amalgam of audio, video, and communication network technologies for real-time interaction. Like the schools where students participate in distance education, the telemedicine uses electronic signals to transfer medical data from one site to another. This method is growing and being used by many health care providers.
Such method requires the use advanced technologies such as high-resolution photographs, radiological images, sounds, patient records, and video-conferencing.
This telemedicine offers many advantages. One example is the appeal of being able to visit and interact with a client without travelling outside one’s clinic. This lessens transactional costs. Another advantage, which is important, is the ability to reach people from remotest areas where there are no available health providers.
However, all video-conferencing systems are an expensive room-based scheme. This is because it requires several significant components for both parties such as microphone, camera, and digitizer. The latter is very important for it converts audio and video into necessary digital form or codec to be able to transfer data efficiently.
Most computers are equipped with multimedia components such as audio capture and playback capabilities. The purpose of such components is to convert the audio signal into a digital code. Because this causes a large amount of information to be processed, there should be a compressor. This will reduce the amount of information so that the signal will not erode over a shared network of computers. This compressor uses a codec. It is typically integrated into the computer software. The smaller the data to be transmitted and the larger the capacity of bandwidth to contain data, the fastest the information is transferred.
With telemedicine, it is also important for computers to have a video camera that captures and displays video images. These cameras often cost between $100 and $900. Again, these video images are large data being transferred in a shared network. That is why it is very important to compress this data through codec. Lastly, the computer needs an Internet service provider. It is best to use Ethernet network at this process for modem connection is slower.
As such, studies show that this method can also provide therapeutic interaction with adults who stutter. Some considerations should be noted too such as challenges related to stability and speed of network connections. However, this can be minimized in some instances like controlling the time and the network traffic during video-conferencing activities.
This process does not aim to be a substitute to direct face-to-face treatment as of to date. However, because of technology, the use of video-conferencing may supplement the lack of treatment in several cases. This process may provide opportunities for therapeutic treatment for people with proximity problems. It will also enable people who stutter to interact with other people from different locations or countries.
This therapeutic treatment using video conferencing is no doubt a potential tool for remote stuttering intervention.