In partnership with lead institution La Trobe University, Communication Connect aims to research how technology can be used to improve the lives of people with communication disabilities.

La Trobe University Centre of Research Excellence in Aphasia Recovery and Rehabilitation director Miranda Rose said the idea for the five-year project came from the needs and challenges the researchers had seen in their respective fields.

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"We have evidence from the field of speech pathology that tells us that people living with communication disability, once they leave hospital, don't have the services and supports that they need," she said.

"So we knew at a basic level that there was a gap and some of that challenge might be able to be addressed with modern technologies."

In the first phase of the Communication Connect project, researchers will meet with health professionals to understand the gaps in services, and people with communication disabilities resulting from aphasia or traumatic brain injury (TBI) to understand what they need to live with these issues

Project postdoctoral fellow John Pierce said it was important to work with those who are seeing the challenges each and every day.

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"We've had conversations with a number of Bendigo Health staff about the gaps they see and what their experiences are when they provide services for these people," he said.

'We have also interviewed people living with aphasia after stroke, which impacts their speech, their understanding of others and their reading and writing abilities.

"We interviewed them and their significant others or carers so they could tell us directly what services they experienced and what they wished they had."

Bendigo Health Speech Pathology and Audiology manager Tracy Sheldrick said it was an "exciting" project to be a part of.

"It's a great large-scale study and Bendigo Health is the only regional and only Victorian site to take part," she said.

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"The team of researchers is phenomenal and it's an amazing opportunity for our speech pathology and the community. "

After this, phase two of the project will focus on co-designing technology and other solutions to the identified challenges.

The third and final phase will be working with 120 people with communication disability and their significant others to trial what's been developed.

The project has been made possible thanks to a $1.8 million National Health Medical Research Council ideas grant.

"We decided we might be able to get something designed that might address the gaps, but we were going to need money to do that," Prof. Rose said.

"Tracy was an associate investigator on that application, we submitted that to the NHMRC.

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"We were delighted to be successful. It's such a highly competitive grant process and it was a fantastic outcome."

Prof. Rose said using artificial intelligence could be a key to unlocking a solution.

"We know people with communication disability are at a higher risk of developing depression once they've been discharged from hospital," she said.

"To help reduce social isolation and lack of activity, we're thinking about an app that enables somebody's activity to be monitored if they give permission.

"It could be a matter of looking at how many texts they send in a day, the types of emojis they're using and if we see them withdrawing and not keeping in contact, we can ensure they get the help they need.

"But AI isn't the only path we're looking at, we have a lot of other technology and community level support resources at our finger tips we want to explore."

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