Over 100 AAC users, facilitators, clinicians, manufacturers, and lay communication partners have cooperated in the determination of the essential features of these aids. The laboratory has also been active in the design of new methods by which persons with severe disabilities can access communication aids. Doctoral student Rupal Patel is working with engineers and scientists from a variety of institutions, including the MIT media laboratory, on the design of systems which will recognize the speech and vocalizations of persons whose extremely distorted is unintelligible to listeners. Other research activities in the laboratory include the determination of the most desirable electronic communication aid outputs, AAC treatment outcome measures, and social validation studies. The AAC lab, which contains a variety of light and high technology communication aids, also serves as a resource to students.
Community service is also a function of the lab.
The database provides the names of AAC users to scientific researchers, market researchers, and AAC advocacy groups for the purpose of including them as co-investigators, subjects or focus group members. The community of AAC also has access to the laboratory and it is used as a meeting place for users who are founding members of the Greater Toronto Area AAC Advocacy Group. Dr. Bern O Keefe oversees the lab. Dr. Ralf Schlosser and Prof. Reinhard Schuller are other active researchers.