For those who use assistive voice tech, a new app is trying to make it easier.
Whispp has built real-time AI-powered assistive voice tech for your phone.
Why is this important?
It can help people with a voice disability — like a severe stutter or vocal cord paralysis, for example — communicate better.
“People with ALS and Parkinson's disease can benefit from Whispp,” said Joris Castermans, the founder and CEO of Whispp.
All the user has to do is whisper into the app. Why does this help?
“I tend to stutter,” Castermans explained. “People who stutter severely, when they whisper, they are really fluent.”
The app can even make the voice sound like your own, after using only a few minutes of voice recordings as a sample.
@scrippsnews This AI #tech can convert whispered or vocal cord impaired speech into a clear voice, just by using your phone. Here’s how it works, and who it can help. #artificialintelligence ♬ original sound - Scripps News
Edo van den Brink has damaged facial nerves following acute leukemia, and can experience pain when he speaks at full volume.
“I’ve always considered my voice and contact with people in my work as one of my essential properties,” van den Brink said.
Whispering, however, doesn’t hurt, he explained.
“Suddenly you can hear your voice like it was before, I mean, that’s pretty, it has a lot of impact,” he said.
“I’m really astonished by the way it can reproduce my original voice,” he said.
The tech uses audio-to-audio-based artificial intelligence, which operates in the cloud. The company started five years ago and built their own AI.
Whispp recently debuted their AI-driven phone-calling feature at the consumer electronics show in January.
Whispp is now available to anyone with an iPhone or Android. A free trial is available when downloading the app.
Subscriptions start at $19.99.
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