People living with PSP & CBD can, over time lose the ability to speak. This can be a distressing symptom to experience. You may feel like you are losing a part of your identity as well as the means to communicate what you want and need.
To help you to maintain your vocal identity and aid future communication, we offer funding specifically to enable you to bank your voice with SpeakUnique.
WHAT IS VOICE BANKING?
Voice banking is a process of recording your voice and using the recording to generate a personalised synthetic voice. This synthetic voice can then be used on a device, such as a tablet or mobile phone, where it converts text to speech, allowing you to communicate with a voice which is identifiably your own.
HOW CAN PSPA HELP ME TO BANK MY VOICE?
PSPA is proud to be working with SpeakUnique to offer a range of voice banking services to people living with PSP & CBD.
SpeakUnique is an organisation that offers voice banking technology for when natural speech is not possible.
PSPA can fund one of three different SpeakUnique voice banking services for people living with a diagnosis of PSP or CBD depending on their speech needs.
You will need to have discussed voice banking with your speech and language therapist who will assess you to ensure you are suitable to bank your voice using one of the following three services.
- Voice Build– for those who have not yet experienced changes to their speech and wish to create a synthetic replica of their own voice
- Voice Repair– for those whose speech has already started to change, e.g. through slurring or slowness. These changes can be ‘repaired’ in the synthetic voice to create a healthy sounding voice
- Voice Design – for those who have no intelligible speech and wish to use old recordings of their voice to create a personalised synthetic voice or alternatively wish to use voice donors (with matching regional accent, gender and age) to create a bespoke synthetic voice.
As well as applying for funding to access SpeakUnique voice banking, you can also apply for a PSPA Support Grant for example, to provide a set headphones for you to use when recording your voice or funding towards a device to access your banked voice.
HOW CAN I APPLY FOR VOICE BANKING?
To apply for funding for a SpeakUnique service, you will need to visit their website, create an account and a sample synthetic voice. Following this you will be able to access the PSPA funding application form.
You will need your speech and language therapist’s details to complete the form.
PSPA will contact yourself and your speech and language therapist as part of the application process.
CONTACT US
For more information or support in accessing PSPA Funding for voice banking, please contact the Helpline.
You can also learn more about the voice banking process reading Sue and Jacqueline’s experiences below. Or check out our podcast about voice banking with Samanta.
Telephone: 0300 0110 122
Email: helpline@pspassociation.org.uk
WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP
PSPA is proud to be working in partnership with SpeakUnique to offer voice banking services to people living with PSP & CBD.
