Beyond Line Drawings and Photographs: Exploring the Potential Use of AI-Assisted Images in Acquired Language Disorders Through the Narrative Review of Image Research

This narrative review aims to delve into the question of whether artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to create images that are linguistically and culturally relevant for individuals with acquired language disorders with specific consideration of Turkish language. Images are one of the highly preferred stimuli in the field of Speech and Language Pathology (SLP), especially among acquired language disorders both in research and clinical contexts. Therefore, the outline of the review is as follows: First, previous studies on image research including neurotypical adults and individuals with aphasia were introduced to draw a comprehensive picture of what ideal image characteristics would involve. Second, the application of AI into the field of SLP was discussed with particular focus on image generation tools by unraveling the options of image generation, the practice of writing prompts, the potential benefits and challenges of text-to-image generation tools, and the need to consider the cultural and linguistic diversity in the formation of images. There is a lack of research that embodies AI and image research together, which means that there needs to be a close collaboration between the researchers in the field of AI and those in the aphasia rehabilitation. Regarding languages other than English, the AI-generated image tools need to consider the unique linguistic and cultural characteristics of the languages concerned. It is suggested that the use of these tools should be promoted among speech and language pathologists in their clinical practice, and their experiences with these tools should be documented so that image generation could be a part of clinical practice.