Alan , a project participant , found this voice banking process much easier than his previous efforts .
88
NAVIGATING VOICE BANKING DIFFICULTIES People living with MND are encouraged to bank their voices early in their diagnosis , but the process can be arduous and tiring .
“ When I first was pointed towards voice banking , it was a lot of hard work to the point that I actually gave up ,” says Alan , a project participant . “ We spent so much time [ sitting and ] recording just a load of random sounds and syllables , nothing that meant anything really .”
Traditional voice banking can take many tedious hours . Over 1,600 words and phrases are required to create a personalized synthetic voice ( PSV ), according to the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists . Often , the results are underwhelming . “ It was a very solitary experience sitting on my own doing that ,” says Diana , another participant .
“ And then I received my voice back and I was horrified . It wasn ’ t me .”
“ I Will Always Be Me ” takes a different approach : Participants simply record themselves reading the digital book . The audio is then sent to SpeakUnique , a U . K . -based tech company focused on voice banking , repair and design . With these short recordings , SpeakUnique creates a full digital library that can be used with an assistive speech device or communication aid . The simple act of reading the book results in a bespoke digital voice that sounds like the user and can create any word or sentence .
The right PSV can be more than a means of communication . “ It ’ s all about identity ,” says Richard Cave , MND Association speech and language therapist and project consultant . “ It ’ s about preserving a piece of me for as long as someone can , so that if they end up