Research archive: this prototype was created for a 2024 study and is no longer actively maintained. It is preserved to document the design and support research reuse; it is not a production AAC system or a clinical device.
Prompt AAC is a SwiftUI prototype for preparing short phrases and playing them through a small wearable Bluetooth speaker. A message can act as a private prompt for the wearer or as public speech during a communication breakdown, while the movable speaker brings audio closer to a conversation partner.
The app supports standard system voices and Apple Personal Voice, allowing prepared phrases to use a synthesised voice that sounds like the speaker. It was co-designed and evaluated with people with aphasia as part of the Screenless AAC research programme at King's College London.
- Creation and deletion of reusable text prompts
- Local JSON persistence on the device
- Speech playback through
AVSpeechSynthesizer - Standard voice selection and experimental Personal Voice access
- System audio routing to a connected Bluetooth speaker
- SwiftUI source for iPhone and iPad
Bluetooth pairing and routing are handled by iOS; this repository does not contain a custom Bluetooth protocol. The included watchOS target is an unused Xcode template and was not part of the evaluated prototype.
- Clone the repository.
- Open
PromptAAC.xcodeprojin Xcode. - Select the
PromptAACscheme and an iPhone or iPad running iOS/iPadOS 17.4 or later. - Configure your own signing team if you want to run on a physical device.
- Pair a Bluetooth speaker in the device's system settings if you want external audio.
The project has no third-party package dependencies.
Personal Voice must first be created in the device's accessibility settings. The user must then allow the app to request access. Availability depends on Apple's supported hardware, operating systems and languages; see Apple's current setup guidance.
PromptAAC/
├── Data/ Codable prompt model
├── ContentView.swift Voice selection and entry point
├── AudioPromptView.swift Saved prompts and speech playback
└── EditAudioView.swift Prompt creation and persistence
- Screenless AAC portfolio case study
- Looking Past Screens: Exploring Mixed Reality and Discreet AAC Devices — ASSETS 2024
- Research video
If you use the prototype in academic work, please cite the accompanying paper; structured citation metadata is available in CITATION.cff.
This is a study prototype rather than a deployable AAC product. Prompts are stored only on the device, Personal Voice access is experimental, and the app does not include cloud sync, clinical configuration or production-grade error handling. No participant data is included in the repository.
The source code is available under the MIT Licence.