EVALUATION OF THE LEXICON OF PICTOGRAMS OF THE ALTERNATIVE AND AUGMENTATIVE COMMUNICATION EDITING BOARD BY TRANSLUCENCY

INTRODUCTION: Communication is part of the daily life of the human being, which allows the expression individual needs and opinions. Several conditions can impair a person’s communication, in its understanding or expression. Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) is an assistive technology that enables people’s expression and improves their quality of life. AMPLISOFT is a free and open access software built for the Brazilian community. The validation of its lexicon is essential to assess its suitability and availability to the target audience and in general. AIMS: To validate the pictograms of the AMPLISOFT alternative and augmentative communication editing board. Also, to identify the degree of translucency of the pictograms of the AMPLISOFT lexicon; and to develop a method of validating iconicity that can be applied in other parts of Brazil. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 93 participants evaluated 200 AMPLISOFT daily context pictograms using a 7-point Likert scale. Data were collected from a questionnaire available on Qualtrics. The results were statistically analyzed and the Mann-Whitney test was applied. RESULTS: A total of 125 pictograms were validated, having reached the criteria of at least 85% comprehension. No significant evidence was found when analyzing the results from the sociodemographic data, but education significantly influenced the understanding of the participants, with 13 pictograms presenting a significant difference (p<0.05). AMPLISOFT pictograms of the nouns grammatical category were the best evaluated with an average of 6.39 translucency. AMPLISOFT has pictograms with higher translucency potentials to the Brazilian population when compared to other systems. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: The daily context pictograms are considered translucent and AMPLISOFT is a well-developed AAC software suitable for the socio-historical conditions of the Brazilian population.

KEYWORDS: Alternative and augmentative communication; Assistive technologies; Iconicity; Translucency; Communication figure.