How did assistive computer technology help Stephen Hawking in his work and home?

Answer 1

Disabled Hawking uses a computer designed by Intel Engineers and replaced for him every 18-24 months. The program he uses to speak with is called EZ-Keys, and is a product of Words+. He also uses a custom-designed light sensor on his glasses which is used as a binary switch to interface with the computer. When he twitches his cheek, it's interpreted by the computer as a mouse click to select commands, words, and phrases from EZ-Keys. The computer has Wi-Fi and a wireless mobile phone connection which allows him to make calls and check email on the go.

His voice is a very old hardware version of DEC-talk from the late 70's or early 80's. It is quite fragile and there are only a few left in existence.

Answer 2

A computer program scans through possible choices for what he might want to say. When the program highlights the choice he wants, he signals that fact, either by clicking a button (at first) or moving his cheek. When he has made enough choices to form a sentence, he sends the result either to a computer to store as part of a text file, or to a speech synthesizer to be heard by others. The initial program guesses what word the user might want next, allowing a user to rapidly reach the actual choice.