Ajit Narayanan

Ajit Narayanan
Born August 21, 1981
India
Nationality Indian
Occupation Inventor
Known for Avaz app, MIT TR35 awardee

Ajit Narayanan is the inventor of Avaz, India's first Augmentative and Alternative Communication device for children with disabilities.[1] This device works by generating speech from limited muscle movements like that from the head or hand, and can be used people with speech disorders such as cerebral palsy, autism, mental retardation, and aphasia.[2] He is a TR35 awardee (2011)[3] and an awardee of the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities[4] by the President of India (2010).

Early life and education

Ajit completed Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras. During his graduation, he received the Motorola Prize for his academic and extra-curricular activities.[5] During his time at IIT Madras, he was a part of the Institute quiz team, notably captaining the team that won the University Challenge in 2003,[6] and editing the IIT Madras campus magazine, The Fourth Estate.[7]

FreeSpeech

Ajit gave a TED talk in February 2013 on a new application he has designed which he calls the FreeSpeech engine. This application aims to give autistic children the ability to include grammar in their communication. It is language independent, meaning it uses pictures of objects, actions, and even abstract ideas like the past tense, instead of English words like "I" or "eat". Some shown on the TED talk include a bowl of soup, a person talking, and a small clock with an arrow pointing backward to signify the past tense of a verb. The Indian government has licensed this program to use in some of its schools to teach English.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Shah, Natascha (April 16, 2010). "Speech weaver : Cover Story". India Today. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "Chennai: IIT engineer gives cerebral palsy patients a voice". Ibnlive. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  3. ↑ "TR35: Ajit Narayanan, 29". Technology Review (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  4. ↑ Sehgal, Sunaina (February 2011). "Avaz, Invention Labs". Inc. India. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  5. ↑ http://www.iitm.ac.in/studentawards
  6. ↑ Kamath, Sudish (2003-08-10). "Quiz kings". The Hindu.
  7. ↑ "The Fourth Estate, Nov 2002".
  8. ↑ http://www.ted.com/talks/ajit_narayanan_a_word_game_to_communicate_in_any_language

External links