The Karten Network has continued working on the Nuvoic Project our collaboration with specialist app developer Voiceitt, aiming to improve access to speech recognition technology for people who have speech difficulties. Voiceitt’s app supports people who want to communicate using their own voice but have difficulty being understood by unfamiliar people, or who want to use their voice for smart home control but can’t access mainstream technologies. The Karten Network is leading on user involvement and testing in the UK.
Updates
Since our last newsletter, we’ve been working with several of our partner organisations to recruit individuals to take part in the project, and we’re delighted that we now have participants from Beaumont College in Lancaster, Cedar Foundation in Northern Ireland, Enable Ireland, Hill House care home in Sandbach (Leonard Cheshire), Homefield College in Leicestershire, National Star in Cheltenham, The Grange Centre and Young Epilepsy in Surrey, as well as some individuals who’ve contacted us directly. We’d like to say a huge thank you to all of our participants and partner organisations for your contribution so far, especially in such challenging circumstances!
In December, Voiceitt announced their collaboration with Amazon to make Alexa accessible for users with impaired speech, and in January were awarded a ‘Best of Innovation’ award in the Accessibility category by the Consumer Technology Association. Congratulations Voiceitt!
We’ve also recently published our new Nuvoic project web pages, check these out for information and updates about the project.
Get involved!
We’re still recruiting participants to test the Voiceitt app, especially the new Smart Home mode which gives integrated control of an Amazon Echo smart speaker. We’re also looking to recruit people with impaired speech who are willing to donate voice recordings to help develop Voiceitt’s technology.
We’re keen to work with new partner organisations who support people with impaired speech, and we have funding available to reimburse organisations for time spent supporting the project. We can also work directly with individuals, family members and carers to support participation, and we offer vouchers, as well as free use of Voiceitt during participation and for six months afterwards, to thank participants for their contribution. Please see our project web pages for details of what’s involved.
Get in touch!
We would love to hear from you if you, your organisation or someone you know may be interested in taking part, or if you’d like more information. Please email our project co-ordinator: liz@karten-network.org.uk, or you can find more information and get in touch via our project web pages.
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- Featured in the Karten January 2021 Newsletter
- This article is listed in the following subject areas: Karten Network News, Nuvoic Project, Technology