Abstract
Because of a paralysis-related articulation disorder, many cerebral palsy patients cannot convey their own intention to other people. In this case, they utilize a “communication aid” which does utterance artificially, or a “word processor” to make a document. “Communication aid” and “word processor” equip a keyboard, and cerebral palsy patients operate keyboard with a practical use hand. In this study, an evaluation method of keyboard operation ability was developed. This evaluation method consists of seven kinds of typical key operation demanded in documentation. Seventeen cerebral palsy patients became subjects. The results are as follows; (1) In cerebral palsy patients, the functional index of the operation of “the continuous key stroke to change an input position of a letter” showed lower score than that of “key stroke to input a letter or a symbol key”, and “a key stroke to edit document”. And the score of the disabled class 1 showed lower score than that of the class 2. (2) When average movement distance is from 37.3cm to 20.3cm, a linear correlation was shown between average movement distance and a set of movement time. But movement time against unit movement distance was prolonged when average movement distances are 4.6cm and 2.2cm. As a result, it was supposed that movement time tended to get longer per unit movement distance when movement distance shortened in keyboard operation. And such a movement as pushing two keys which distance is close in should be avoided, when keyboard layout was designed based on movement characteristic of upper limbs of cerebral palsy patients.
