United States Health Economic Study

Find information and resources about the US version of the health economic study entitled “Exploring the Benefits of Assistive Communication”. 

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“Exploring the Benefits of Assistive Communication”

This study was conducted from spring 2025 to spring 2026 in the United States by Augur and Diana Bowser, Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Integrated Science at the William F. Connell School of Nursing, Boston College, together with her research team, and commissioned by Dynavox Group. Participants could use any high-tech AAC tool from any manufacturer.

US Study Participants

Pre-study qualitative interviews
10 digital in-depth interviews with users of various high-tech AAC brands and/or their caregivers and 6 interviews with professionals (18 participants in total). 

Online survey
1077 online interviews with users of various high-tech AAC brands and/or caregivers/assistants.

Key Findings

The US version of this health economic study details findings broken down by condition and group impacted. The study shows that assistive communication is an investment with measurable returns and clear economic benefits to society.

Top-level findings show that investments in high-tech assistive communication solutions for people in the US with disabilities create:

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65%

increase in quality of life 

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3x

return on investment  

Resources

In addition to the full US version of the health economic study “Exploring the Benefits of Assistive Communication”, please consider downloading the related resources, including an executive summary of the full study and a wall poster highlighting key findings from the study. All resources are available free of charge.