IDI Press Release – March 23, 2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

IDI Presents Virtual Conversations™ Technology  
at Maryland Brain Injury Conference

March 23, 2001 — Dr. William G. Harless, president and CEO of Interactive Drama Inc. (IDI), held the plenary- session stage this morning, during the second day of the Brain Injury Association of Maryland’s (BIAM) 12th Annual  Conference at the Sheppard Pratt Conference Center in Towson, Maryland. Dr Harless gave attendees (over 225 individuals) a firsthand view of IDI’s virtual dialogue method, presenting one interactive program in a series the company is developing focused on traumatic brain injury (TBI). The programs allow TBI survivors and family caregivers to gain valuable information and emotional support by conducting face-to-face simulated conversations with inspiring individuals who have personally experienced this tragedy.

Dr. Harless was introduced by Theresa M. Rankin, a well-known TBI community educator and advocate. Ms. Rankin, a brain injury survivor herself, is the video subject in the interactive program that Dr. Harless demonstrated. The virtual dialogue program allows a user to interview her in depth about the automobile crash that changed her life forever, the nine years of isolation she faced in the aftermath of her severe brain injury, and the rehabilitative process that finally helped her reclaim her life. Her responses are illuminating and often profound.

IDI received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to develop the Virtual Conversations™ Traumatic Brain Injury series. Approximately 1.5 million people sustain traumatic brain injuries annually in the United States, and 50,000 die as a result.  Of those who survive, 80,000 individuals annually experience long-term disabilities. There are currently 5.3 million Americans living with a TBI-related disability. Most survivors are cared for by family members, who typically are unprepared for this challenging role.

The virtual dialogue method combines speech recognition, digital video, and microprocessor technologies to allow  the highly personal simulated conversations. Virtual dialogue programs include IDI’s intelligent prompting system, which scrolls questions for the user to ask the video character, allowing an uninterrupted conversation that can last more than an hour. Through their virtual dialogues with experienced peers, TBI survivors and families can gain emotional support and invaluable perspectives on life after brain injury.

About IDI  

Other IDI virtual dialogue applications include knowledge expert programs featuring astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn, Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg, U.S. Congressman Major Owens, health care leader James Gordon, and journalist Jack Germond.  A new patient education series of virtual dialogues allows users to interview medical experts about serious health problems, such as breast cancer, and also interview patients who have had the problem. 

IDI has been creating voice-activated, interactive video programs since 1984. The company's founders began this research and development at the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications of the National Library of Medicine. Subsequent R&D has been funded by SBIR grants and contracts from the National Institutes of Health,  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.  

The educational effectiveness of the method has been validated repeatedly in rigorous scientific experiments funded by these agencies. In 1991, IDI was awarded U.S. Patent No. 5,006,987 to protect this unique method of dialogue with a virtual human subject. Subsequently, IDI developed a dynamic, intelligent prompting system to help users conduct a focused and informative dialogue with Virtual Conversations™ characters. In 1997, U.S. Patent No. 5,730,603 was awarded to protect the intelligent prompting method. A third patent is pending. 

For More Information Contact:

Marcia A. Zier
Interactive Drama Inc.
7900 Wisconsin Avenue Suite 200, Bethesda, MD 20814
Tel: 301.654.0676
FAX: 301.657.9174
Email: mzier@idrama.com