No abstract

According to a study by the Department of Statistics, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan, a total of 15,145 people had a voice function impairment or speech function impairment, and a total of 122,533 people had a hearing impairment by the second quarter (Q2) of 2018. Hearing and speech are the most commonly used sensory functions for communication. Therefore, a person will suffer unimaginable difficulties with the loss of both functions during her/his life. The problems that a handicapped student might encounter during school are often neglected. The way a teacher teaches during a class and how a student interacts with others should be highlighted. The deficiency in assistive devices for hearing- and speech-impaired people is due to several factors. In fact, there is insufficient information and not enough researchers. The translation of language by foreign assistive devices is more rigorous; however, domestic resources for assistive devices for hearing- and speech-impaired people are limited. No relevant information on learning through assistive devices is available. The subject examined in this study was a hearing-impaired student in her junior year, who lost speech capability after an ear stroke. This study examined the problems that she encountered during her learning in a class with average students. After a literature review and the investigation of the case study, user experience and design thinking approaches were implemented for the development of an assistive device. A class learning assistive system, which is based on a simple innovative design and a highly flexible combination of elements, was created. After a series of experimental verifications and improvements, the results indicated that this learning assistive system could effectively enhance the research subject’s confidence and autonomy during learning in class.

In recent years, the increasing number of autistic patients has attracted the attention of governments around the world. Normerally, experts will use counseling strategies, drug treatment methods, or the Squeeze Machine, which designed on the basis of the sensory integration theory, to improve those autistic patients' stereotypical behaviors performance. However, we found the existing machine on sale in the market is too bulky, more expensive and not user-friendly for those autistic students to use. Therefore, we had used expert interviews, practical operations, product analysis and then had performed several design improvements experiments, and had successfully completed the innovative prototype named 'Sitting Hug Machine' in an earlier research, and this design has won Taiwan's invention patent certificate recently. The purpose of this paper is to introduce this new design and verify its enhancement and therapeutic effect. We adapted the model of A-B-A-B reversal of Single-Subject Experimental Design(SSED) with two junior high-school autistic students, and we got a lot of good results, including improvement of stereotypical behaviors performance, more flexible operation, lower machine cost and miniaturization of machine volume, etc. Finally, we hope that the results of this study can be further promoted to benefit more autistic patients and improve their stereotypical behaviors.

This research began with a series of in-depth interview with experts in the field of powder metallurgy, combined with literature review, a design process with a checklist of design quality for powder metallurgy cultural and creative products was established. We first verified this design process with the checklist by applying it to improve the design of an existing powder metallurgy cultural and creative product. Then we designed three cultural and creative products based on the established design process with the checklist of design quality and chose an icon of Hakka Lion among them to prepare a toolset and finished the test production of a sample, which all of our interviewed experts deemed as having excellent quality. Therefore, this research verified that the traditional technology of powder metallurgy could not only be utilized to produce mechanical parts, but it can also be applied in the cultural and creative industry to produce high value-added artifacts that are typically full of very complex curvature surfaces. In addition, the design process with the checklist of design quality for powder metallurgy cultural and creative products was also verified to be applicable. Besides, this research also introduced the technology of digitized design to the design and manufacturing process of an old powder metallurgy manufacturer successfully. Through which we enhanced the integrity and efficiency of this production process significantly. Hope that the result of this research will be helpful for the powder metallurgy industry in Miao-li County of Taiwan to find a way out.