Kolkata-based Webel Mediatronics Ltd, a subsidiary of West Bengal Electronic Industry Development Corporation Limited, has developed a software for people affected with cerebral palsy to help them communicate.

Webel is the only information technology company in West Bengal which is using IT for its social sector initiatives to manufacture IT-enabled products for the needy, like the software for cerebral palsy patients. Its earlier innovations include a Braille keyboard. It is also in the process of manufacturing motorised wheelchairs and digital hearing aids.

Webel's latest innovation, the audio-visual software, christened 'Pictorial', has specially developed keypads that help cerebral palsy children communicate their feeling by selecting pictures. The software and keypads could be attached to any computer.

For children who cannot use hands, Webel has developed foot-switches that can be used to select pictures for expressions.

The software has a database of 2000 pictures to select from and the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy has provided Webel with these specially designed icons.

In each icon, there is a sound file, which can generate audible expressions. By clicking on any icon, the user will be able to play the sound file and make people understand their feelings.

The system is quite simple: The child has to hold a specially designed mouse or hand-switch or foot-switch, according to the need, and select a picture to express his/her feelings. Each picture depicts a particular mood or expression or some regular activity. Each picture has a sound file attached to it. So every time a child selects a picture, the sound file announces what the child is trying to communicate.

For instance, if a child selects a picture depicting food, the audio system will announce "I am hungry".

According to Gautam Burman, director and CEO of Webel Mediatronics, the concept was developed by the International Society for Alternative and Augmentative Communication, which pointed out that this as a way to help people with cerebral palsy express themselves.

According to an official at IICP, Kolkata, "Children with cerebral palsy who are sent to special schools, are made aware of the world around them through pictures. So, for them to identify and relate certain pictures to various moods and desires become simpler. A software like this is helpful for children to express themselves as well as for outsiders to understand what the children are trying to communicate."

Webel's software will be available in Hindi, Bengali and Nepali, apart from English.

Burman said it took almost two years to develop this software. "We had received grant of Rs 44 lakh from the Department of Information Technology, Government of India, for this project. We have got an additional Rs 18.5 lakh grant to roll out this product in Sikkim too which we will do shortly," Burman said.

The software has a pair of specially designed hand switches for two hands. While one switch would be used to scroll through the pictures, the other switch would be for selecting an expression or pressing the 'Enter' button.

Similar mechanism is in place for the foot switches.

This design was necessary since cerebral palsy children cannot use normal mouse to click on specific icons.

The cost of the software and a pair of hand switches or foot switches, depending on who would need what assistance, is estimated to be around Rs 10,000.

"As of now we have finished a few installations at IICP in Kolkata for no charges. For commercial use, we may reduce the prices too," Burman said.