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 a.king@northeastern.edu with the subject line “Voice Preservation Clinic Appointment” to begin scheduling a session.

Questions about voice-banking or the Voice Preservation Clinic, contact voice.preservation@northeastern.edu.

Contact

Phone: 617.373.2492
Fax: 617.373.8756
Email: voice.preservation@northeastern.edu
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

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