JAMES EARL JONES:

THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK

MICHELE J MARTIN

Born in 1931, James Earl Jones has been an actor for nearly 70 years. His face is known around the world, his voice, even more so.

AN ICON THAT ALMOST WASN’T

In order to become the man we all know today, James Earl Jones had to overcome something that plagued his childhood and left him nearly mute for his first 8 years. He stuttered. You can read about his struggle on the Stuttering Foundation website.

“Stuttering is painful,” Jones said of his childhood struggle. “In Sunday school, I’d try to read my lessons and the children behind me were falling on the floor with laughter… by the time I got to school, my stuttering was so bad that I gave up trying to speak properly.”

ON STAGE, SCREEN, & THE RECORDING STUDIO

The winner of over 26 awards, including three Tonys, one Grammy, and two Emmys— there is no doubt to James Earl Jones’ wide reaching talent. In addition to his screen roles in Driving Miss Daisy, Cry, the Beloved Country, Coming to America, (and many more) he has voiced some of the most well loved, and feared, characters of all time — from Mufasa in Lion King, Santa Claus, and yes, Darth Vader.

THE POWER OF VOICE — “I AM YOUR FATHER”

James Earl Jones wasn’t originally meant to voice Darth, but could we imagine anyone else doing it? Check out the story behind Darth’s voice below:

Darth Vader’s story is one profound example of how a voice helped define and create a character and shape the audience’s emotional reactions to said character. What do you think? Would Darth Vader be the same powerful figure without James Earl Jones’ great baritone?

WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT HIS VOICE

His unique characteristic vocal style – booming and intense, yet soft. It makes you stand up and listen, but also has the ability to comfort you. Imagine the possibilities, if the world of digital voice matched the world of human voice. It can — learn more about AI-Voice.

VOCALiD VOICE TYPE

Cocoa voices are defined as Soft, Deep, Breathy, and Oral. Learn more about the unique characteristics that make up our voices and voice types here: VOCALiD Voice Types.

Make sure to come back every day this month as we highlight iconic Black voices in celebration of Black History Month.

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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.

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 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 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.

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.​

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.​

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 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

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 (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.

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.

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

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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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

HeadNeckCancer_BlackCommunity2020

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#SHAREVOICE:
THE MOVEMENT TO CHANGE LIVES (INFOGRAPHIC)

MICHELE J MARTIN

#SHAREVOICE is a movement born from the belief that our voices are not identical, they are our identities.

When our founder, Rupal Patel, found herself witnessing people of different genders, ages, geography, and personalities all using the same text-to-speech voices to communicate, she knew that by harnessing technology, we could do better AND we could change lives. This was the beginning of the Human Voicebank and VocaliD's global voicebanking initiatives.

Voicebanking 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. Your recordings are then used to train an AI voice for yourself — Vocal Legacy or blended for someone living with speechlessness —BeSpoke.

All of us. Sharing the gift of voice brings us all closer, allowing everyone the ability to express ourselves authentically, rather than with a generic voice that doesn't sound anything like who we are.

Voicebanking for you? Voice loss might be personal —If you or someone you love is currently facing voice loss or is at risk, begin voicebanking today and retain your vocal identity forever.

Voicebanking for others? Contribute your voice to VocaliD’s Human Voicebank so that we can design a totally unique AI voice for those living with speechlessness.

Absolutely! Voicebanking is a great activity to participate in while social distancing and staying #safeathome. You can even organize a virtual community voice drive so that your colleagues, friends and family, or neighbors can join in and share their voices!

All you need is a computer, headset microphone, a quiet room, and a few hours. 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 are excited that you want to learn more about how you can join VocaliD's global community of over 27k voice contributors!

Read our infographic below for an overview on the different types of voicebankers and how you can get started. Then go to portal.vocalid.ai/account and sign up! Please click the social share buttons right below the infographic and share it with your friends and followers on social media. You can also download it and print it out!

VocaliD Voicebanking Infographic

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INTERVIEW WITH RUPAL PATEL:
'OUTCOMES ROCKET' PODCAST

MICHELE J MARTIN

VocaliD's CEO, Rupal Patel, recently sat down with Outcomes Rocket founder Saul Marquez to discuss the benefits voice technology bring to healthcare and how it can be mastered on the Outcomes Rocket Podcast.

You can listen to this episode below:

Here are the topics that Rupal Patel and Saul Marquez touch on during this 33 minute podcast:

  • Overview of VocaliD and Rupal Patel
  • What inspired Rupal to make voice and voice tech her passion
  • The voice technology applications she sees in the medical sector
  • Why voice matters in healthcare tech
  • How voice can improve healthcare outcomes
  • The differences between traditional voice synthesis and Voice AI
  • VocaliD's setbacks, achievements, and proudest accomplishments
  • "...we can build models of speech with less data and more economically than we've been able to do in the past. That also means we can have a variety of voices for applications rather than just saying we only need one voice for all of our IVR system.

    Think about what we've been doing. I mean, I think right now we're saying there is one voice associated with one brand. Problem is that your customer base is much more, they're very different. So, if you're talking to all your customers in the same way, you're not necessarily resonating with all of them."

    - Rupal Patel, Founder & CEO - VocaliD

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