In the rehabilitation of voice disorders, patients were required to keep daily exercise at home as instructed by speech-language-hearing therapists; however, few systems have been developed to support their voluntary and continued practice. This study thus developed a small and low-cost system to support rehabilitation using tube phonation, which has already been shown to be effective in the field of voice disorders, using the skin vibration of the lips as a quantitative index. The system provides real-time visual feedback of the vibration index during tube phonation and notifies the user of practice results and reminders via social networking service (SNS). The results of an effectiveness test of the system showed that the visual feedback and the automatic notification function via SNS contributed to the appropriateness and continuity of the voluntary practice.

  When wheelchair users in support facilities for the disabled experience difficulty maintaining a sitting position due to physical function decline or breakdown, they can purchase new wheelchairs or wheelchair parts for repair, through the prosthetic device payment system. However, the suitability of the purchased device is not guaranteed. A survey of all facilities belonging to the “National Council of Facilities for the Physically Handicapped” revealed that 66% of wheelchair users experience difficulty in maintaining a sitting position. In addition, it became clear that when facilities own wheelchairs and equipment for maintaining a sitting position are inadequate, the sense of difficulty in responding increases, and there is also a shortage of human resources and training for adjustment of wheelchairs to maintain a sitting position. From this, it was considered necessary to provide alternative wheelchairs at the facility, introduce leasing, and conduct training on how to maintain a sitting position. In addition, it was considered necessary to expand the scope of the rental system to include wheelchairs and items that support a sitting position, and to add the placement of alternative wheelchairs and items that support a sitting position to the facility standards.

  Unilateral spatial neglect (USN) not only interferes with daily living activities and also impedes rehabilitation. The BIT test is the most common method used to test for USN. However, patients not diagnosed with USN by the BIT might still experience USN symptoms during daily living activities, as this condition might not be detected by paper and pencil tests alone. Therefore, multiple assessments, each appropriate for assessing particular symptoms, are needed. To address this, we developed a method that can objectively evaluate USN symptoms in proximal and distal spaces using head-mounted displays to measure eye gaze. We experimentally evaluated seven healthy university students and two patients with left USN. The results suggested that the method can objectively understand USN symptoms in proximal and distal space and detect minor USN symptoms by evaluating reaction times and detection rates. Moreover, the patients’ exploration methods can be understood by gaze detection, which could provide guidelines for rehabilitation.

  The initial stage of evaluation conducted on actual persons in the development of assistive devices is also called monitor evaluation. The setting in which the characteristics of assistive devices and the need of assuming use in their daily life bases exist will lead the effective implementation of such evaluation complicated and difficult. Our study aims to develop a monitoring evaluation method as well as a training program for human recourse to practice it, along with promoting the further improvement of assistive technologies in Japan. For further reference materials for our project, we surveyed relevant studies in other countries. In this research, we collected information on “Patient@Home” and “Silver Project” through the Internet, and extracted “Model for Assessment of Tele medicine” and “Assistive Technology Assessment Tool” as evaluation methods from the former. These methods covered various perspectives, such as the degree of acceptance of the developed technology in the real field when it is implemented in society, and its impact on economic activities, including those of suppliers. It could be discussed that the focus was rather on conducting a multifaceted, multidisciplinary evaluation of development objectives, than on obtaining objective data for evidence-building. These perspectives also provide our envision with significant aspects in monitoring evaluation as well as a useful reference for the future.