Category: Voice Technology

VOCALiD BRINGS VOICEDUBBS TO API.AUDIO

MICHELE J MARTIN

We are excited to announce our latest partnership — with Aflorithmic Labs, a London/Barcelona-based technology company. Their api.audio platform enables fully automated, scalable audio production by using synthetic media and audio mastering, to then deliver it on any device, such as websites, mobile apps, or smart speakers.

CUSTOMIZED AUDIO FOR TODAY’S BRANDS

With VocaliD and Aflorithmic you can build a perfectly customized audio product according to your needs, brand values, and tone of voice.

With this partnership, Aflorithmic users will now have access to the VocaliD’s highest quality voices to go from text into fully produced audio files that can be published to any device or platform.

MORE FUNCTIONALITY FOR DEVELOPERS

We are thrilled to be able to offer VocaliD’s Premium VoiceDubbs on api.audio. This partnership provides developers access to both the highest quality synthetic voices and robust audio mastering capabilities ... in one place. Our first premium VoiceDubbs on api.audio have just launched and are available now! Stay tuned for release announcements as we’ll be regularly launching new diverse premium offerings on api.audio.

A NEW MODEL FOR VOICE TALENT

Developers aren’t the only ones that benefit from our partnership with Aflorithmic. Voice talent will have a chance to have their voice used across a vast array of api-enabled social media sites, mobile apps, websites, and more. This will not only increase their revenue, but it will also increase their audible reach and help them grow their voice brand with less effort! The best part in using VoiceDubbs to scale their business is the level of control they’ll maintain in the licensing and use of their voice.

Voice talent interested in learning more about VoiceDubbs and working with VocaliD are invited to read more about our process here: AI VoiceDubbs for Voice Talent

This is just the beginning of our collaboration. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.

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THE FUTURE WOMEN IN VOICE

MICHELE J MARTIN

All of this month, we have been celebrating "Women MAKING history in voice tech." These are women working across disciplines within the voice technology community who we believe help build this innovative industry and push for it to be more diverse and inclusive.

WOMEN IN STEM TODAY

According to UNESCO's global statistics, only 29.3% of the researchers working in science are women. In the U.S., women fare a bit better - "Women in 2019 also made up nearly half of those in all math (47%) and life and physical science (45%) occupations."

But that isn't enough. The U.S. Census Report also explains that women aren't making gains in computer or engineering occupations, which comprise 80% of the STEM workforce.

It goes on to say, "women represented only about a quarter of computer workers and 15% of those in engineering occupations. They were, however, a majority of the nation's social scientists. But social science accounted for only 3% of STEM occupations.

Women working in engineering occupations increased from 3% in 1970 to 15% in 2019. And while the percentage of women in computer occupations is higher than in 1970, it actually decreased between 1990 and 2019."

So, to decrease this massive gender gap, what do we do? How do we attract and retain more talented young women into STEM? One of those ways is through mentoring, which is near and dear to our Founder, Dr. Rupal Patel.

MENTORING TO CLOSE THE GENDER GAP

Dr. Patel often *speaks to young scientists and entrepreneurs, focusing mainly on young women in STEM. Over her long career as a scientist, she has personally mentored many students and young clinicians who are just beginning their careers. Whether it is at a conference, a small talk at a university, or one-on-one, mentoring is a passion for Rupal.

She recently participated as a guest mentor in the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) Apprenticeship Program, speaking to a group of young women between 14-18-years old. The purpose of the program is to address the gender gap in science by focusing on female high school students with a curiosity for STEM-related topics. These young women who apply must show an interest in how science and technology are transforming the world and are considering what opportunities are available to the next generation of leaders. By leveraging female mentors' experiences from various STEM industries, the program attendees gain invaluable insight to help nurture their interests in STEM fields and potentially help reduce the gap.

CDL Apprenticeship Program Event

"I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A MENTOR..."

If you have been thinking about mentoring, but aren't quite sure how to do it, here are some suggestions. Consider reaching out to your alma mater, local schools, or organizations that align with your mentoring goals, i.e., mentoring a young woman in science or entrepreneurship.

Rupal has provided some of her best advice, gained from her many mentoring opportunities, for those just starting out as a mentor:

  • FINDING A MENTEE/BECOMING A MENTOR

Mentoring happens naturally and organically. It isn't the same process as searching for an intern or employee, don't approach it as such. The process is more intuitive — you will see potential in someone, and you will want to help them succeed.

Find alignment - you'll have more fun, and you'll be able to contribute greater if you have alignment between their interests and goals and your interests and background.

Be realistic. Only take on mentees if you have time - you can't be there for everyone. But if you commit, make sure you follow through and make yourself accessible.

  • HOW TO MENTOR

Be a sounding board - we don't need clones. Mentoring is about helping and nurturing through supportive advice, not telling someone how to do something to be just like someone else.

Be you - often, women will feel that they can only portray their professional self; their personal life needs to be hidden. Your mentee doesn't need to know details about your personal life. However, understanding what real balance looks like and the varied roles you play in your life can be a vital lesson.

  • IT DOESN'T ALWAYS GO AS PLANNED

Sometimes it doesn't work out, and even the best intentions may not land well. Be open and transparent but don't force it. You aren't obligated to be a mentor, nor are they to being your mentee. Life happens, people change, situations adapt. Keep the conversation open and know when it is time to walk away.

  • EVERYONE BENEFITS

Mentoring isn't one way - I have found that you learn and get back as much from your mentees as you give.

While we only spent a month highlighting these brilliant women on social media, we hope that this has inspired others to call out and recognize bright women they know. Let's continue to shine a light on them, and instead of Women's History Month, let's transform 2021 into The Year of the Woman!

*If you are interested in having Rupal speak to your organization about her experiences as a mentor, a founder, or scientist, please email your request to hello@vocalid.ai

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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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VOCALiD :
YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW

MICHELE J MARTIN

2020 was, without question, a year like none other. While there was division, there was also a tremendous sense of community, coming together to help and support its own. People spoke up, spoke loudly, and continued to speak… all for those that weren't being heard.

These actions inspired us every day because it parallels our obsession with voice, and what voice means. Finding your voice, being brave enough to use it, and being heard authentically - these are powerful moments in a person's life, and these should be available to everyone. Having a voice is not limited to those who can speak. Everyone deserves to be heard, whether they were born with an operatic range or are living with speechlessness.

This is what we believe — everyone has a unique voice that deserves to be heard. This belief fundamentally fueled everything we did last year.

VOICE FOR GOOD

Within the assistive communication space, we have many accomplishments to share. We are proud to have welcomed 7k new Voicebank contributors, including our first from Greenland! And 57 students from the USSG International school in Guangzhou, China, participated in a Voice Drive in 2020! That brings the total number of our Human Voicebank users to over 87K today. Amazing, thank you!

To further this gift of voice - we have launched a Corporate Social Responsibility Employee Volunteer Program. We developed this in response to brands seeking unique remote volunteer opportunities for their staff. We are proud to welcome Verizon as our first CSR partner! Learn more about our CSR Programs.

VOICE FOR BRANDS

Many of you know that we expanded our offerings in 2019 and began offering AI voice options to companies. We were receiving a growing number of inquiries in the enterprise business space as companies sought more robust and authentic-sounding text-to-speech voice options. Businesses that relied solely on traditional voice talent began seeking new ways to augment their content production processes — recognizing that their talent wasn't always available when they needed to deliver audible content.

For companies seeking audible content solutions, we recognized there was a need for more diverse voices, so we began recruiting voice talent from a broader range of vocal personalities, regions, and ethnicities for our enterprise-ready AI voices.

We have developed Parrot Studio, an audible content creation platform to further serve our enterprise clients. A first of its kind offering for content creators, Parrot offers efficiency AND customization to the audio production process, bringing AI voice to a new level. Those already using it in BETA call it a unique creative tool that stands out over standard API deployments.

To grow this side of our business we are forming alliances with other organizations who collectively see the potential benefits of AI voice for brands and consumers. We look forward to sharing these partnerships with you as they develop. Stay tuned for announcements soon.

INDUSTRY RECOGNITION & MEDIA COVERAGE

Rupal's obsession with voice and dedication to diversity is why she was honored with several industry recognitions in 2020:

In addition to Rupal's achievements, VocaliD received several press mentions in 2020. We are incredibly proud of the piece by Meghan McDonough for Scientific American entitled "Artificial Intelligence Is Now Shockingly Good at Sounding Human".

ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY

Finally, as we recap our achievements and advances, Meghan's article is an excellent segue into our technology. We continue to see massive improvements in the speed of voice building and reduction in data needed to create a voice. Today, VocaliD voices sound nearly identical to the individual who provided the source material, surprising those who have heard them side by side.

We are immensely proud of what our research and engineering team has accomplished. Currently, these advances are most accessible to our enterprise clients. Still, we keep pushing for these advances within the assistive realm. We believe those using synthetic voices to communicate should benefit from the latest technology, rather than limited by old-generation speech synthesis. We continue to advocate for this ideal.

Lastly, we are very excited about the psychological power of voice. We have been conducting an in-depth mapping of empathic response to voice, how people respond or feel when they hear a specific voice style. This will help us to better understand how AI voice can be used more effectively. By delving deeper into this, we are excited to see how we can bring our technology to greater heights.

COMMITTMENT TO ETHICS

We recognize that speaking of AI voices that sound just like voice talent or using voice to impact behavior may excite people and raise concerns about what-ifs. We need to stress our commitment to ethics in all of these advances.

In 2019 we were a founding member of Aithos Coalition, a consortium of synthetic media companies committed to ensuring ethics in AI. We believe that with every advance in technology we must consider any potential misuse of the technology. We MUST then take action to safeguard against these misuses. Click here for more information about Aithos Coalition.​

COMMITTMENT TO EACHOTHER

This year we have grown our team, and in response to Covid-19, shifted to remote work. We are so thankful for their continued dedication and ability to rise to new challenges through honest communication, humility, and the occasional embarrassing Zoom interruption from children, spouses, and pets.

Like many of you, we have also struggled with social isolation, lack of personal routines and professional structure, and detachment from family and friends. While we have been blessed with our physical and business health through this pandemic, we have watched friends, family, and community members suffering significant losses. With all sincerity, we send our love and compassion to all of you who have experienced loss. We are hopeful for what the future brings.

Thank you for being part of our community
- From all of us at VocaliD

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Rupal Patel Named 2020 Voice Visionary

MICHELE J MARTIN

VocaliD is honored to announce that our Founder & CEO Rupal Patel has been named one of 17 Top Voice Visionaries for 2020 for the second year in a row.

The Top Leaders in Voice - 2020

The Top Leaders in Voice is a recognition bestowed upon those working in the voice space by a panel of journalists and voice technology peers. Now in its second year, the 2020 Voice Leaders are segmented into four lists - Visionaries, Designers and Products, Technologists, and Influencers.

Topping the list in the Visionaries category are once again Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Sundar Pichai of Google, and Adam Cheyer from Samsung and Viv Labs. While Patricia Scanlon of Soapbox Labs and Dr. Ben Goertzel of Singularitynet join the list for 2020.https://voicebot.ai/top-visionaries-in-voice-2020/

Design and Product Leaders have added some new honorees, including Lisa Falkson and Wally Brill of Google, and Maaike Groenewege of Convocat.

The Technologists category has some exciting new additions including Ilya Sutskever of OpenAI, Monica Lam of Open Virtual Assistant Lab, and Juergen Schmerder of Mercedes-Benz R&D NA.

Then there are the Influencers that are shaping the way consumers and corporate executives think about voice technology today such as Michal Stanislawek & Karol Stryja of #VoiceLunch, plus podcasters Teri Fisher of Voice First Health and Carl Robinson of Voice Tech.​

"Even while the tech giants expand their reach, companies such as Deepgram, Open AI, Pryon, Rasa, Sensory, SingularityNET, Stanford University, and others are pushing out innovative technology architectures while end users ranging from Deutsche Telekom and Comcast to Mercedes, BBC, and Mayo Clinic are showing how voice AI is being incorporated into everyday life."
-voicebot.ai

How were these Voice Leaders chosen?

Voicebot utilized a variety of methods to narrow down their list and determine the final Top 68 Leaders in Voice, including - surveys of voice professionals, panel suggestions, media coverage, and social media activity. None of the writers affiliated with Voicebot were eligible for consideration. Unlike last year, this year a judge was allowed to be included when she (Katherine Prescott of Voicebrew) received too many nominations to ignore. Each individual was then scored based on several factors and, if chosen, were then segmented into their leadership category.

Learn more about the selection process and the panel of judges, listed at the bottom of the overview page, linked above.

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Rupal Patel Named A Top Voice AI
Influencer To Follow by Soundhound

MICHELE J MARTIN

Soundhound releaseS TWITTER'S Top Voice AI Influencers FOR 2020

Soundhound (powered by the team at Houndify) recognizes that as the Voice AI space has grown, so has the need to identify those experts leading the way — innovating and inspiring both industry insiders and everyday people with their work.

As anyone who uses Twitter knows, it can be hard to filter through the noisy stream of tweets and find the high-quality, credible content you want. We are honored that our Founder and CEO, Rupal Patel, has been included in this list.

Featured alongside such respected peers as Heidi Culbertson of Marvee, Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek of Women in Voice, Adva Levin of Pretzel Labs, Noelle Silver of HackerU and AILI, as well as Mark Tucker Mark Tucker and Dr. Teri Fisher.

FOLLOW & LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LIST

To follow Rupal Patel and the others on Twitter:
twitter.com/i/lists/1334977812168511488

Read more about Soundhound's picks for Top Voice AI Influencers on Twitter and how they are impacting the Voice AI space in the Soundhound blog.

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Safe Home-Based Volunteering for Employee Enrichment Programs

CORPORATE EMPLOYEE VOLUNTEERING DURING COVID-19: VOICE SHARING

By Michele J Martin

Has COVID-19 disrupted your corporate employee volunteer participation? Consider adding home-based Voice Sharing with VocaliD to your CSR employee volunteer program roster.

What is Voice Sharing?

Voice sharing is a small gesture — with a huge impact. It is the simple act of recording yourself as you read aloud stories on VocaliD’s online studio. Those recordings are used to train a blended AI-voice (BeSpoke voice) for someone living with speechlessness. To learn more, visit BeSpoke voices.

Our global Human Voicebank initiative has over 76k contributors or all ages from over 120 countries. Their contributions have directly changed the lives of hundreds of individuals with speech impairment who use assistive technologies to communicate - now they have their own unique AI-voice. Voicebank contributors frequently message us to express how taking part in the movement has had a profoundly positive impact on them.

JUMP TO OUR DOWNLOADABLE FLYER FOR MORE INFORMATION!​

Employee Eligibility

VocaliD is currently seeking English-speaking voices of all accents, ages, regional dialects, and gender identities to help build unique AI-voices for individuals living with speechlessness. Whether your office is based only in the US or internationally, if your employees are English speaking, they can participate.

The entry barrier is low; most individuals will already have access to the equipment required to Voice Share: a quiet room to record (without background noise or others), a desktop or laptop computer running Chrome, stable wifi, and an over-the-ear headset with positionable microphone.

Because of its flexibility, it is a perfect volunteer opportunity for your employees who wish to include their families, significant others, or roommates in a meaningful activity they can “do good” together while staying safely apart.​

Easy to Implement

Adding VocaliD Voice Sharing into your existing CSR programs costs nothing. Set up is simple; all you need to do is contact our team at hello@vocalid.ai You can design your VoiceDrive program to work best for your particular business needs. Schedule participation within a set time frame or create an open-ended self-paced program so that new employees, interns, or consultants can engage and Voice Share at their convenience.

Other Ways to Support the Cause: Voice Sponsorship

In addition to running organization-wide VoiceDrives, companies may choose to further engage with the VocaliD mission by pre-purchasing voices for individuals in need. Voice Sponsorship is an excellent opportunity for companies to target specific communities or individuals — or to help more broadly. There is no minimum participation; your business can choose to sponsor 1 or 100 voices. Please note that because VocaliD is a for-profit organization (albeit with a strong social mission), thus these sponsorships will not be tax-deductible.

Promoting your Participation

This fall, corporate Voice Sharing partners will receive digital participation badges based on cumulative employee engagement in their VoiceDrives. You are welcome to use this across your marketing channels to promote your CSR activities. We are also offering an exclusive digital seal for those organizations that choose to become Voice Sponsors, which participating companies may also use in their promotional material.

Get Started

To get started as a Corporate Voice Champion and add Voice Sharing to your CSR volunteer activities, contact us at hello@vocalid.ai, and please include “Corporate Voice Sharing” in the subject header. To learn more about Voice Sponsorship, you can reach us at sponsorship@vocalid.ai

Together, we can change lives!

Voice Sharing: A Home-Based Activity for Employee Volunteering

Take a look at our animated brochure or download the 2-page trifold below

Download Trifold

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VOICEBANKING & SPEECH LOSS IN BLACK AMERICANS WITH HEAD AND NECK CANCER
(DOWNLOAD)

MICHELE J MARTIN

Many of us will experience a cancer diagnosis, directly or indirectly, at some point in our lives. Whether it is ourselves, a family member, or someone in our community, cancer affects us all.

According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 1,806,950 people in the US will be diagnosed with cancer in 2020. Of those, 63,000+ will be head and neck cancer (HNC). HNC's impact on speaking, swallowing, and overall quality of life are profound. The incident rate, or the number of new cases, of HNC across races, is similar. However, Black men and women are getting diagnosed at a more advanced stage in their cancer. This increases the likelihood that they will experience loss of speech and shortened life expectancies. Research suggests that the reasons for late-stage diagnosis are often due to a lack of access to early diagnosis and medical interventions.

The good news is that you can improve these statistics with regular check-ups and early interventions, including surgery.

VOICE PRESERVATION

Treatment for head & neck cancer may result in loss of speech — thanks to technological advances in voice preservation and voicebanking, this doesn't have to mean loss of voice identity.

Imagine a world without those powerful Black voices that surround us? Your role models, parents, and icons — their voice is more than a sound, it is a deeply personal and unique part of who they are. Vocal identity, or the uniqueness of our distinct voice, is deeply connected to the roots of who we are and where we come from. Voicebanking, also known as voice preservation, does more than just provide a person with the ability to speak in a familiar voice. It allows them to stay connected to where they come from.

Once someone has completed voicebanking, if needed, they will have the ability to purchase a preview and a Vocal Legacy voice from VocaliD. Our Vocal Legacy clients have told us that voicebanking was incredibly powerful for them and their loved ones.

Jump to our DOWNLOADABLE FLYER for more information!

WHAT IS VOICEBANKING?

Today, individuals can retain their vocal identity so that if they need a device to speak, the words spoken will sound like them, not someone else. It is the simple act of recording (or "banking") ones voice by reading aloud stories on VocaliD’s online studio. The recordings are then used to train the AI voice and the result is a Vocal Legacy voice. This acts as a voice prosthesis that can be used with the MyVocaliD mobile app or another assistive device.

CAN I VOICEBANK FROM HOME?

Absolutely! Voicebanking with VocaliD is easy and free — and it is a profound way to shape how your community is heard. Whether you are at risk or not, consider voicebanking as a way to protect and preserve your voice for the future.

It really is simple. All you need is a computer, headset microphone, a quiet room, and a few hours. (If you don't have access to these things, reach out to your local community center, health clinic, or church — they may be able to provide Covid-safe access at their location so that you can preserve your voice with voicebanking.) At your own pace, you will record a total of around 2k sentences. You don't need to record it all in one session, in fact you shouldn't because you want your voice and energy to be strong all the way through your recordings. The better the recordings, the higher quality the AI voice will be!

We understand that you may need help navigating this process and we want you to know that we are just an email away: hello@vocalid.ai

OTHER WAYS TO HELP

VOICE SHARING

You can also choose to participate in VocaliD's crowdsourced Human Voicebank Initiative. By sharing your voice, we can offer an individual living with speech loss an AI voice that they can identify with. These voices are made by carefully blending recordings from different voice sharing community members to create a new, unique voice for that individual.

PROVIDE ACCESS TO EQUIPMENT / RECORDING SPACE

We recognize that not everyone has the same access to the items needed to voicebank or voice share. (a quiet room to record, desktop or laptop computer with wifi access, and an over-the-ear headset with microphone) We don't believe that access should keep an individual from preserving their voice. You can help! Are you a neighborhood center, church, or organization that can help bring voice preservation to your community by providing public access to a quiet space and voicebanking equipment?

BECOME A VOICE ADVOCATE IN YOUR COMMUNITY!

Make sure that your family, friends, and community members know the risks of head and neck cancer, the symptoms to look out for, and that they are getting regular check-ups. And while you are taking care of your community, don't forget to look after yourself. Make sure to schedule your check-ups too! Please click the social share buttons right below the flier and share it with your friends and followers on social media. You can also download it and print it out to share on local community boards.

A NOTE DURING COVID

For those with access to the needed equipment and a quiet space to record — voicebanking and voice sharing are safe at-home processes. If you are using a community space to do your recordings, for sanitary purposes, please consider purchasing an affordable gaming-type headset with an attached microphone for your personal use.

VOICE PRESERVATION FOR BLACK AMERICANS WITH HEAD & NECK CANCER

HeadNeckCancer_BlackCommunity2020
Download Flyer

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