The Karten Network is very pleased to begin work this Summer on the Nuvoic project, which aims to improve access to voice recognition technologies for people who have dysarthric or unclear speech. Our project partner Voiceitt produces a specialist voice recognition app, designed to be used by people who have dysarthric speech and who are unable to use mainstream voice-controlled systems.
We want to recruit participants who would be willing to provide voice samples to extend Voiceitt’s database of English-accented dysarthric speech, which will help improve the performance of their recognition systems. Voiceitt are also working to develop new and existing functions for their apps. Potential uses include voice output, to help users to communicate more easily with people who are unfamiliar with their speech, and control of other voice-driven technologies such as the Amazon Alexa and other smart-home and environmental control systems. There are also plans to develop a voice-controlled online shopping app.
We are looking for participants aged 16 or over to join this exciting project, to test these apps and provide feedback to Voiceitt on how they could be improved. The apps give written instructions to the user, so some literacy is needed. If you would like to get involved with this project or would like to find out more, please contact Liz Howarth who is the project co-ordinator for the Karten Network: liz@karten-network.org.uk.
We would be very grateful for any help from colleagues in our Karten Centres to help us to publicise this project and make contact with any potential participants. The Voiceitt apps currently run on Apple devices but Android versions are planned for the future. Participants using their own iPhone or iPad will benefit most easily but some funding is available to provide testing kit where needed.
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- Featured in the Karten Summer 2020 Newsletter
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