Voice Preservation Clinic

Voice Preservation is a new service offered to the Greater Boston Area and University communities. We leverage Northeastern University faculty member Rupal Patel’s research and subsequent commercialization efforts through VocaliD to proactively bank the voices of those who may be at risk of temporary or permanent voice loss. Trained student clinicians will provide guidance on best practices and assist you through the voice preservation process to ensure your recordings are of good, usable quality for synthetic voice generation should the need arise.

FAQ’s

What is voice banking?

Voice banking is the process of recording your speech prior to voice loss. This is done on VocaliD’s Human Voicebank portal. You will be prompted to read aloud short stories and other content of your interest. These recordings are stored in an anonymized format and available for your use or to create a custom blended voice for those who may not have had the opportunity to bank their own voice. If you decide to purchase your Vocal Legacy voice, your recordings will be used to build your own personalized synthetic voice.

Why should I bank my voice?

Voice Preservation is a proactive way to keep control of your vocal destiny. Individuals living with head and neck cancer, ALS, Parkinson Disease and other degenerative conditions often choose to preserve their voice so that they can use a personalized voice on their assistive communication device.

Are there other options besides voice-banking?

Yes, many patients also choose to message bank. This is where you record specific voice messages that can be replayed in the future. Message banking will allow users to hear their original voice but only for those stored messages; voice banking allows users to compose any message in their digital voice.

How long does it take to bank my voice?

We recommend at least 40 minutes of recorded speech to create a reasonable quality voice. Of course the more speech and the better the quality of the recordings, the better the clarity and naturalness of the digital voice. We recommend banking around 1500 sentences across several sessions to ensure that you have enough high quality audio for voice building. Recordings should be broken up into 15-20 minute sessions to optimize quality and minimize fatigue. vocalid.ai/faq/#gettingstarted

Cost

Recording at the Clinic with the assistance of a trained clinician is free.
Creating a digital voice from your banked recordings is done through VocaliD. Preview samples of your digital voice can be ordered at any point along the voice banking process for $29.99. Once satisfied, you can opt to have your voice built for use on compatible devices and the MyVocaliD app. VocaliD has generously agreed to waive the build fee of $1499 for Northeastern University Voice Preservation Clinic clients for the inaugural year.

Setting up an appointment

Interested individuals should contact Angela King at [email protected] with the subject line “Voice Preservation Clinic Appointment” to begin scheduling a session.

Questions about voice-banking or the Voice Preservation Clinic, contact [email protected]

Contact

Phone: 617.373.2492
Fax: 617.373.8756
Email: [email protected]
Address:
Speech-Language and Hearing Center
30 Leon Street
503 Behrakis Health Sciences Center
Boston, MA 02115

PEOPLE

Sarah Young-Hong, MA, CCC-SLP

Rupal Patel, PhD, CCC-SLP

Aparna Dutta,

NEU Student

In the news

In Less Than Three Hours You Can Donate a Voice

VocaliD, a company founded by Northeastern professor Rupal Patel, creates custom voices for people who either can’t speak or are at risk of losing their voices in the future…

LEARN MORE

Voice Preservation Clinic Wins Healthcare Voice Experience of the Year

Project Voice, the No. 1 event for voice tech and AI in America, named the 2020 winners of the Project Voice Awards. Project Voice gathered the companies and innovators who are shaping the future of voice tech, in addition to executives from various vertical markets…

LEARN MORE

Rupal Patel Bouve College Health Sciences Northeastern University

On a Mission to Help People Sound Like Themselves

Consider the “voice” of a speech-generating device (SGD). A somewhat robotic sound probably comes to mind. Rupal Patel, the founder and CEO of VocaliD, Inc., seeks to challenge the mechanical nature of that voice with one that sounds more truly human…

LEARN MORE

Hello! Do you like my new voice?

“My voice isn’t me, it sounds like a robot. I want it to be me,” eight-year-old Maeve Flack told speech scientist Dr Rupal Patel during their first meeting in 2014. It was a frustration Dr Patel had heard many times before. …

LEARN MORE

Finding Your Voice Northeastern University

Finding Your Voice: How The Way We Sound Shapes Our Identities

At some point in our lives, many of us realize that the way we hear our own voice isn’t the way others hear us. And we begin to realize that our voices communicate so much more than mere information: they reveal our feelings, our temperament, our identity…

LEARN MORE

Your Voice is Unique. If You Lose It, Shouldn’t Your Synthetic Voice Be, Too?

With text-to-speech technology that creates customized voices that match the people who use them, Northeastern professor Rupal Patel gives the voices to the voiceless. “If your voice sounds like an A.T.M machine, how can you take ownership over it?”

LEARN MORE