July 26, 2023
UW Bothell lecturer on journey to support ALS patients through game technology
ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, with those diagnosed eventually losing the ability to speak and move. Augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and video games may offer benefits, which is a research direction one University of Washington Bothell faculty member is pursuing.
Dr. Wanda Gregory, a lecturer at UW Bothell’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, teaches courses in game and interactive media design as well as media studies. She was recently awarded two Fulbright scholarships, one of which allowed her to research the potential of games and game technology to support the well-being of patients with ALS while teaching a course on technology ethics at Reykjavik University in Iceland.
The potential that game technology might have for ALS patients is only relevant if they can use the games in their current physical conditions, so she researched game technologies that can be modified based on players’ abilities. For example, many ALS patients “bank” their voices so they are able to communicate after they have lost their speech, so Gregory looked into how game technologies could use banking to prolong ALS patients’ ability to communicate with loved ones. The ability to embody an avatar or enter an immersive virtual world, for example, might also help improve the mental health of ALS patients.