Category: Voice Branding

WE'VE GRADUATED!

MICHELE J MARTIN

In August, after a competitive multi-stage interview process, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) informed us that we were accepted to participate in an accelerator program for scalable, science and technology-driven startups. We are excited to announce that VocaliD has graduated from the 2020/2021 CDL- Montreal AI stream!

A program leader stands with his back to the camera while beyond him sits a small auditorium of students
CREATIVE DESTRUCTION LAB SESSION (PRE-PANDEMIC)

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The CDL program's goal is to help founders accelerate novel innovations' commercialization trajectory, becoming successful, scalable ventures.

Once accepted, the hard work began — a 6 month long series of networking and intensive work sessions where our Founder - Rupal Patel, along with members of our engineering and research team, would meet and work with our program mentors — a curated group of investors, tech entrepreneurs, and industry leaders.

We are proud of the work our team put into this and found it to be valuable, providing us with new insights and learnings we can lean on moving forward. We would encourage other companies to apply in the future!

"The eight-week sprints focused on key objectives with the guidance of mentors with operational, investment, and advisory experience is the CDL secret sauce. The discipline of this iterative process has been an incredible growth experience for our team."

Dr. Rupal Patel — Founder & CEO of VocaliD

ABOUT CREATIVE DESTRUCTION LABS (CDL)

Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a nonprofit organization that delivers an objectives-based program for massively scalable, seed-stage, science- and technology-based companies. Its nine-month program allows founders to learn from experienced entrepreneurs, increasing their likelihood of success.

Founded in 2012 by Professor Ajay Agrawal at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, the program has expanded to nine sites across four countries: Oxford (Saïd Business School, University of Oxford), Paris (HEC Paris), Atlanta (Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology), Madison (Wisconsin School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison), Vancouver (Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia), Montreal (HEC Montréal), Calgary (Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary), and Halifax (Rowe School of Business, Dalhousie University).

Since its inception, companies that have participated in the CDL program have created more than $7.5 billion (CAD) in equity value. CDL alumni include North (Waterloo), Atomwise (San Francisco), Kyndi (Palo Alto), Xanadu (Toronto), BenchSci (Toronto), Kheiron Medical (London), and Roadbotics (Pittsburgh).

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WHAT IS VOICE PRESERVATION?

MICHELE J MARTIN

Voice is more than a means to communicate information. It connects us in a deep and powerful way. The sound of a voice, like a perfume, can transport the listener to a time, place, and person in ways that words or images alone can not.

THE ULTIMATE FAMILY HEIRLOOM

This ability to transport us is why we save voicemail messages and videos of our loved ones to listen to when they are away or no longer with us — to archive the memory of their voice.

Voice preservation is the same concept, but with the protection against accidental deletion or technology obsolescence — advances that make that recording or video no longer accessible.

VOICE INSURANCE

Voice preservation isn’t only for preserving the voices and stories of our loved ones. It is also a powerful way to preserve one’s own vocal identity in case of illness or accident. Your vocal identity is the unique way in which you sound, unlike anyone else —like a vocal thumbprint.

Whether you are at risk for head and neck cancer or other degenerative illnesses which may lead you to loss of speech or not, consider banking your voice today as insurance should you need it later. One you bank (or record) your voice in VocaliD’s Human Voicebank, you can rest assured that it will be there for you, should you ever need to have your recordings transformed into an AI-voice. Your AI-voice acts as a custom voice prosthesis allowing you to retain your vocal identity on an assistive communication device or our text-to-speech communication app, MyVocaliD.

Learn more about our AI-voice prosthesis Vocal Legacy and discover how you can retain your vocal identity after speech loss.

VOCALiD — PIONEERS IN CUTTING-EDGE VOICE PRESERVATION

VocaliD brings diverse voice to everyone. We believe in the power of one’s unique individuality and that everyone should have the ability to choose a voice that fits their personality.

Based on the discovery that a single vowel contains enough “vocal DNA” to seed the voice personalization process, VocaliD was founded by speech scientist Dr. Rupal Patel, with a strong social mission to create the first-ever custom voices for those living with speechlessness.

Today, as recognized experts in human speech and voice technology visionaries, our work has expanded beyond the healthcare realm, offering our services to brands, voice talent, and individuals seeking a way to preserve their voice for themselves or their loved ones.

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VOCALiD ANNOUNCES
VUI.AGENCY PARTNERSHIP

MICHELE J MARTIN

We are excited to start the new year by announcing our latest partnership — with VUI.Agency, a multidisciplinary agency based out of Germany with a laser focus on conversational AI.

WHO IS VUI?

They are experts in language, linguistics, rhetoric, and phonetics. VUI is the largest agency for conversational experiences in Europe for voice assistants and conversational AI and work with clients across multiple sectors, including automotive, retail, service, and telecom.

We are united by the same mission to create the highest quality voice-enabled content and intuitive voice experiences that are diverse, representative, and uplift society.​

WHY WE PARTNERED

VUI and VocaliD are fueled by the same passion for human speech and desire to connect people and brands through intuitive voice experiences. It is our shared vision that one day speaking devices and apps will reflect the true diversity and authenticity of voices that we hear in our everyday lives.

Through this partnership we can offer the most charismatic virtual assistants and voice experiences on the market. By combining our state-of-the-art AI voice technology, social good mission, and human speech expertise with VUI's multimodal voice experience, and sound branding specialty, we will be positioned to empower businesses to tap fully into the power of voice identity and customer engagement.

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Voicebot Podcast:
VocaliD - June 21, 2019

PODCAST:
Rupal Patel APPEARS on Voicebot Podcast

MICHELE J MARTIN

On June 21st, 2019 VocaliD's CEO, Rupal Patel, sat down with Bret Kinsella of Voicebot.ai for his popular Voicebot Podcast.

You can listen to this episode below:

The History of VocaliD and the Impact of Modern Synthetic Voice

This one hour in depth interview was a deep dive into VocaliD, as well as, the history and science of speech synthesis, providing the listener with a solid understanding of the hows and whys of modern voice AI.

During the podcast, Rupal and Bret delved into the future of computer-generated voice and how it relates to the surge in voice-first products we are seeing (and hearing). The technological advances in machine learning will undoubtedly offer numerous benefits from both a consumer and brand standpoint.

Can Synthetic Voice Foster & Create Inclusion?

One of the many interesting take aways was the impact that today's advances in speech synthesis will have on inclusivity and allowing communities to feel less disenfranchised.

Rupal explained that if you look at the past - the prototypes for radio and television broadcasting were a very limited voice or face. There wasn't much diversity in the beginning, but now you are seeing, and hearing, a far more diverse range of communities in these two mediums. This hadn't yet caught on in the synthetic voice world however, and Rupal is eager for what will come now that VocaliD can offer unique high quality diverse voices.

"Our world is diverse. From age, gender, sexual orientation, and accents, and we don't hear much of that at all in the synthetic voices we hear around us."
-Rupal Patel, CEO of VocaliD

Ethical Responsibilities of New Technology

Wrapping up this educational podcast, Ms. Patel discussed the ethical responsibilities that technology companies must be aware that they hold when creating new technologies that may bring unintended consequences - and how it is important to consider ways in which to build safeguards into the design of your technology to mitigate these risks.

In summary, this is a can't miss podcast for all of you out there that are interested in voice technology, speech synthesis, voice-first design, inclusion through technology, and the ethics of technological advances.

We hope you enjoy it - it's a great listen while you fighting holiday traffic this upcoming July 4th!

Interested in having Rupal appear on your podcast or speak at your event?
Email us at hello@vocalid.ai!

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CUSTOM VOICES

The Flexibility of Synthetic Speech & Personalization of Human Talent

CUSTOM AI-BASED VOICES OFFER A DISTINCTIVE SOUND FOR PEOPLE AND BRANDS

Headshot of Rupal Patel

By Rupal Patel

Darwinian forces of natural selection favor uniqueness – from birds to people to corporations. Enterprises capture this uniqueness in their brand. A distinctive logo, a preferred font, a color palate, and now more than ever, a vocal identity. With over 2.5 billion voice-enabled devices globally and 8 billion voice assistants projected globally by 2023, the demand for unique voice is skyrocketing. Corporations want to be heard and listeners want variety.

"In the voice-first era, companies that compromise on unique voice, simply will not be heard over their competition, and that’s not good for business."

Want to read the entire article that was published on Voicebot.ai? READ MORE

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The New Role of Voice in Brand Storytelling

The New Role of Voice
in Brand Storytelling

MICHELE J MARTIN

Historically when the term voice has been used in business, we have talked about the overall tone and thread of messages across channels. Voice wasn’t literal, it was figurative. The voice-first explosion has changed that.

Until now, it was enough for a brand to consider their words and how they would be perceived and whether they seemed to complement and reflect who the company is. While storytelling is a buzzword that is often overused, when done well, it is a way of taking your audience on a journey with your brand. Each piece of copy and content was a paragraph or a chapter - coming together to make up the larger narrative of the brand story. Over time, with thanks to the advances in different converging technologies, storytelling left the page and went to video, went to music, and now… it has come to voice.

What is Voice AI?

Voice AI is the application of state-of-the-art machine learning to speech blending algorithms to transform human voice recordings into the digital voices brands need today. VocaliD's digital, or ‘synthetic’ voices, have their roots in traditional text-to-speech, but Voice AI isn't yesterday's text-to-speech. Today's voices are expressive and diverse. No longer the robotic speech we’d come to associate with a synthesized voice.

The cutting-edge quality of today’s synthesized digital voices allows brands to extend their reach and be present and voice-consistent in every customer audio touch point... seamlessly.

"Voice AI is not a replacement of voice talent, in fact, it is a way to empower brands and talent to augment their current capabilities in order to meet the changing demands of the voice-first revolution and provide consumers with better Voice Experiences (VX)."

Voice Consistency Matters

No matter where your brand is, you want your customer to associate positively with each touch point, whether that is written, visual, or auditory. If the digital voice you are using across voice-first devices, in your automated call centers, or in your marketing campaigns doesn’t denote unity, if it creates cognitive dissonance in your audience, you risk losing the attention of your consumer at a vital time in their customer journey.

Many brands today have their spokesperson - Flo, Mayhem, “Do you hear me now?”, and even Poo-Pouri… these brands have all incorporated very specific talent personas for their brands. Voice AI is not a replacement of this talent, in fact, it is a way to empower brands and talent to augment their current capabilities in order to meet the changing demands of the voice-first revolution and provide consumers with better Voice Experiences (VX).

The Possibilities of Voice AI

Imagine having Mayhem deliver real-time dynamic messaging to Allstate customers? Predicting every short script that the actor portraying Mayhem would need to record would be challenging and the delays in recording and delivery of the files would eliminate the ability to make on-the-fly changes. With licensing and royalty agreements in place, brands could now ensure that their spokesperson was available both in human and digital form, ensuring full omni-channel residency and voice consistency.

These technological advances and new products and applications have created both challenges and amazing opportunities for brands today. New roles are being created - Voice Experience Designers and Voice Strategists are two that we’ve seen emerge in the last year. More and more CMOs and other executives are talking about the need for their brand to develop an extensive Voice Strategy. The brands that choose to take control now and design their Vocal Personas to complement their overall story will rise above, their message amplified above the noise as others quickly get in line to join the voice-first movement.

For those interested in learning more about how VocaliD’s Voice AI can amplify your brand messaging, email us at: hello@vocalid.ai

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