SummaryRecipients of cochlear implants need to attend regular mapping sessions to adjust their speech processors. We developed a PCbased system for remote mapping, which employed voice, video and text communication. Eleven implant recipients had their implant electrodes programmed (mapped) both by conventional methods and remotely. Speech tests, conducted by a family member or research assistant, were used to test the outcome of the programming during the remote consultation. The recipient and audiologist were surveyed regarding aspects of the teleconsultation. There were no significant differences between conventionally and remotely programmed electrode settings. The speech test results were perfect in most cases. The average time to complete the conventional mapping session was 37 min and the average time for the remote mapping session was 42 min (P ¼ 0.034). Recipients and the audiologist reported favourably on most aspects of the consultations. Lack of synchronisation between voice and video was the most common problem, which disrupted communication. The assistant was important to overcome this problem. All but one participant indicated they would be willing to use tele-mapping in the future. Remote programming of cochlear implants can be conducted reliably with relatively simple equipment, potentially in the homes of remotely located patients assisted by a family member.

Although many approaches to digital ink recognition have been proposed, most lack the flexibility and adaptability to provide acceptable recognition rates across a variety of problem spaces. This project uses a systematic approach of data mining analysis to build a gesture recognizer for sketched diagrams. A wide range of algorithms was tested, and those with the best performance were chosen for further tuning and analysis. Our resulting recognizer, RATA.Gesture, is an ensemble of four algorithms. We evaluated it against four popular gesture recognizers with three data sets; one of our own and two from other projects. Except for recognizer-data set pairs (e.g., PaleoSketch recognizer and PaleoSketch data set) the results show that it outperforms the other recognizers. This demonstrates the potential of this approach to produce flexible and accurate recognizers.

Touch and stylus sensitive computer displays are widely available. Yet, the development of gesture sets to support these interaction methods continues to be difficult. We present RATA, a tool for interaction designers and software developers to create gesture recognizers for novel and custom gesture sets. Guided by the RATA wizard, the developer: defines their gesture set; collects example gestures; labels them with the support of an auto labeller; and generates the recognizer model fileno coding or expert knowledge of recognizers is required. Incorporating the recognizer into a program requires just two lines of code. Our evaluations show high user satisfaction and that novice software developers can design a customized gesture set and generate a recognizer in about 20 minutes. Gesture based interaction, gesture recognition.