Designing a Serious Game for Speech Rehabilitation in Children with Speech Sound Disorder: A Feasibility Study

Introduction: This paper presents a serious game (SG) that helps children with speech disorders overcome their challenges in a fun and engaging way. The game utilizes speech recognition and speech-to-text technology, along with visual feedback, to provide a comfortable and interesting experience for the child. Additionally, the game can be used both in therapy sessions with a therapist and at home under supervision, with game results being recorded and sent to the therapist for analysis.Materials and Methods: The game was developed using Unity ۳D game engine. The game character and environment were designed using Agisoft Software and Autodesk ۳D Max. Then, ۱۰ game experts from the Faculty of Multimedia, including university professors and game design masters’ students, were asked to play the primary prototype of the game and complete a questionnaire. Based on our experts' opinions, we modified certain aspects of the game, such as improving visual feedback and smoothing out character movement.Results: Of the ۱۰ participants who played the game, ۸۰% played flawlessly. The game was effective, but ۲۰% of experts encountered technical issues with in-game functions. The problem was due to incompatibility with their system, so an alternative method was recommended and the issue was resolved.Conclusion: According to the experts, the game has a promising future for use in clinics and the system may provide a beneficial rehabilitation platform for children with speech disorders. Further evaluations are required to achieve better results and confirm its efficiency.