9 October 2023 News
Voice banking offered through the Acapela Group will be complimentary in the month of October for all people living with motor neurone disease (MND) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland..
The cost of the process, normally subsidised by the MND Association, will be waived by the Acapela Group in honour of AAC Awareness month, which aims to raise awareness for those who rely on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).
For people diagnosed with MND, and other conditions resulting in voice loss, capturing their own voice before losing it is a crucial step in preserving their identity. This process is called voice banking and is based on the Deep Neural Network (DNN) methodology to provide an accurately reflected digital voice, which is instantly recognisable. The individual voice can then be installed and used on most brands of AAC devices.
“We are incredibly grateful to Acapela for offering complimentary voice banking for people living with MND in October. Over 80% of people with MND will experience changes to their speech while living with the disease, with some losing their ability to speak entirely. It is important people with MND have the opportunity to bank their voice quickly and easily before this happens to allow them to continue communicating in their own voice.” Pauline Matheson-Marks, Head of National Care at the MND Association.
"Our partnership with the MND Association over the past three years has already allowed us to deliver hundreds of digital voices to people with MND in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Latest improvements include enhancement of voice quality for Scottish English and we look forward to keep supporting people with MND with high quality voices that perfectly suit users’ needs." Nicolas Mazars, Inclusive Market Owner at Acapela Group.
To enroll, register on the my-own-voice website, select MND Association as funding partner and apply the code AACOCTOBER. Users will just need to complete the recordings during the month.