{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,13]],"date-time":"2026-04-13T12:47:13Z","timestamp":1776084433590,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,29]],"date-time":"2023-12-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1703808000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Corporaci\u00f3n Ecuatoriana para el Desarrollo de la Investigaci\u00f3n y la Academia\u2014CEDIA","award":["I+D+I-XVII-2022-61"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["I+D+I-XVII-2022-61"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["BDCC"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Health problems in older adults lead to situations where communication with peers, family and caregivers becomes challenging for seniors; therefore, it is necessary to use alternative methods to facilitate communication. In this context, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) methods are widely used to support this population segment. Moreover, with Artificial Intelligence (AI), and specifically, machine learning algorithms, AAC can be improved. Although there have been several studies in this field, it is interesting to analyze common phrases used by seniors, depending on their context (i.e., slang and everyday expressions typical of their age). This paper proposes a semantic analysis of the common phrases of older adults and their corresponding meanings through Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques and a pre-trained language model using semantic textual similarity to represent the older adults\u2019 phrases with their corresponding graphic images (pictograms). The results show good scores achieved in the semantic similarity between the phrases of the older adults and the definitions, so the relationship between the phrase and the pictogram has a high degree of probability.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bdcc8010003","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,29]],"date-time":"2023-12-29T03:28:41Z","timestamp":1703820521000},"page":"3","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Semantic Similarity of Common Verbal Expressions in Older Adults through a Pre-Trained Model"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3671-9362","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marcos","family":"Orellana","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Science Research and Development Laboratory (LIDI), Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca 010204, Ecuador"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-4113-8400","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Patricio Santiago","family":"Garc\u00eda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Science Research and Development Laboratory (LIDI), Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca 010204, Ecuador"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-9949-536X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guillermo Daniel","family":"Ramon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Science Research and Development Laboratory (LIDI), Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca 010204, Ecuador"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5339-7860","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorge Luis","family":"Zambrano-Martinez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Science Research and Development Laboratory (LIDI), Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca 010204, Ecuador"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9504-6498","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andr\u00e9s","family":"Pati\u00f1o-Le\u00f3n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Science Research and Development Laboratory (LIDI), Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca 010204, Ecuador"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-0131-8022","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mar\u00eda Ver\u00f3nica","family":"Serrano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Science Research and Development Laboratory (LIDI), Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca 010204, Ecuador"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6787-0655","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Priscila","family":"Cedillo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Computer Science Department, Universidad de Cuenca, Cuenca 010203, Ecuador"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"47","DOI":"10.1037\/neu0000489","article-title":"Hearing loss and verbal memory assessment among older adults","volume":"33","author":"Wong","year":"2019","journal-title":"Neuropsychology"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"872","DOI":"10.1080\/10410236.2019.1598616","article-title":"Confidant network and interpersonal communication associations with depression in older adulthood","volume":"35","author":"Hall","year":"2019","journal-title":"Health Commun."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Loncke, F. 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