There are several apps in the App Store and Google Play Store that help users with special needs use smartphones and ease digital communication for them. Furthering this effort, Samsung Italia has launched the Wemogee app[1] in a bid to help aphasia users communicate over chat better. This is not the first app unveiled by Samsung for those with communication issues, with the Look at Me app[2] launched a few years ago.
Aphasia is a condition that restricts the patient from basic language capabilities. Individuals with aphasia may have difficulties in speaking, listening, reading, and writing, but it does not affect intelligence. They still retain their cognitive abilities, and Wemogee looks to use that as an advantage for these special users. The app makers reason that aphasia patients are able to understand emojis as they are able to "depict all aspects of emotion." The app essentially allows aphasia patients to communicate with emojis, and it will translate that into speech for other users to understand.
Wemogee has a list of 140 pre-set phrases made with emojis that are used in normal day-to-day life for conversation. This list is made by a team of speech therapists and it contains the most common phrases used in informal chats. These words were then translated into logical sequences of emojis. Aphasia patients can select one of these emoji phrases, and these phrases will be converted into text for other users to see. Similarly, when a non-aphasia patient sends a text, an aphasia patient will receive it in the form of emojis for better understanding. This app looks to enable aphasia users with the power of IM communication, something that is a form of mass communication nowadays.