Participants with non-standard speech are invited to record their voices and empower others to lead more independent and connected lives
Voiceitt, a leader in advanced speech recognition technology for people with non-standard speech, announces the launch of its community engagement and development initiative called Project Ensemble.
Project Ensemble invites individuals with non-standard speech to record a set of phrases and short sentences to help build a database of speech recognition language. This will expand the capabilities of the Voiceitt technology, increasing the power, flexibility and accuracy of the underlying speech algorithms. Project Ensemble welcomes individuals with non-standard speech to record a set of phrases and short sentences in exchange for an Amazon gift card.
The launch of Project Ensemble follows the successful 2021 integration of Voiceitt’s speech recognition capabilities with Amazon’s Alexa. This allows people with speech impairments to access and interact with Alexa using the Voiceitt mobile app. Users around the world currently use the Voiceitt speech recognition app, now available for free on the Apple App Store. The app gives people more freedom and independence by enhancing their ability to communicate verbally and be understood. In addition, the Alexa integration empowers users to control smart home devices using voice commands independently.
Voiceitt’s machine learning algorithms are designed to recognize and translate non-standard speech caused by degenerative diseases like ALS or Parkinson’s; developmental disorders like cerebral palsy and Down syndrome; stroke; brain injury; and other conditions affecting speech.
Voiceitt Co-Founder and CEO Danny Weissberg says: “Our powerful technology uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to revolutionize support for people with non-standard speech. In fact, Voiceitt can recognize spoken words and phrases in any language, accent, or dialect”. Weissberg adds that “Project Ensemble will help us to dramatically improve the user experience. We’ll be able to go far beyond Voiceitt’s initial capabilities and make even a greater impact on people’s lives with far less training, setup, and calibration.”
“Users will no longer be restricted to saying pre-selected words. They’ll be able to speak or execute voice commands spontaneously, helping them take a big step toward engaging in standard conversation” summarizes Weissberg.
Voiceitt has partnered with dozens of organizations in North America and worldwide as part of its extensive development activities. Partners include the Karten Network, an aggregate of 90 centers leveraging novel technologies to support people with disabilities across the United Kingdom. Karten’s project coordinator Liz Howarth says: “If your speech is affected by a condition such as cerebral palsy, brain injury or stroke, leading to difficulties in being understood by others, please consider joining Project Ensemble. Your voice can help make Voiceitt’s speech recognition technology more accessible, for more people.”
Click here to contribute your voice to Project Ensemble, or to refer others who may benefit.