Personalized digital voices for assistive devices gives a unique voice to the voiceless

People who cannot speak and must rely on vocal devices are often stuck with an autonomous one. But now, VocaliD offering personalized voices to those who don’t have one.

The BeSpoke online voice studio is able to create personalized digital voices for those who must rely on an electronic communication device. More often than not these patients have no choice but to use the default male voice.

"The inspiration for VocaliD came when I saw a young girl and older man communicating using their assistive devices but with the exact same adult male voice," said Bimal Patel, MD, a professor at Northeastern University. "We wouldn't dream of fitting a little girl with the prosthetic limb of a grown man, so why then the same prosthetic voice?"

With this goal in mind Patel and his team developed BeSpoke to be an affordable, natural sounding alternative. By using a patient’s unique vocal identity mixed with recordings from a speaker of the same gender, age and accent taken from Voicebanks over 14,000 samples, the blended voice is then used on the person’s communication device to give her a unique voice.

"I'm observing first-hand the communication and self-esteem benefits of VocaliD's technological breakthrough on our students," said David Manzo, president of the Lexington, Mass.-based Cotting School for students with special needs, recalling one student's experience. "First I heard her voice and then I saw the smile on her face. Thanks to VocaliD she has both her own voice and a new found confidence and pride."