In recent times, for various reasons, much has been said about the difficulties caused by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and how technology has been assisting those who suffer from it. For this reason, and with the Global ALS Awareness Day coming soon, we will do a special article on this topic today. Keep reading Text-To-Speech: The technology available to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) to learn more about this disease.
This disease can cause progressive deterioration of muscle control. As a corollary to losing movement; we also lose our main mechanism to transmit information and communicate through that muscular movement (speech, sign language, etc.).
The contribution of engineering to improve the quality of life of patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
On the one hand, AAC, Augmentative and Alternative Communication technologies allow; in intermediate stages of disease progression, to implement Text-To-Speech mechanisms; systems that take written text and generate audio from spoken text. Even solutions that make use of the Generation capabilities of current Neural Networks can synthesize audio texts that are very similar to those generated by the patients themselves. In other words, they can very faithfully imitate the patient’s own voice.
Then in more advanced stages, it is necessary to resort to more sophisticated mechanisms, such as Spellers or Spellers. These devices take any type of muscle remnant movement, for example, through Electromyography (EMG) signals, decode them, and implement a communication protocol, which can include arrays of letters that must be selected one by one.
Eventually, the disease can progress to a more advanced stage called Locked-in Syndrome. Muscle movements are more tenuous and the only option is to detect the signals directly from the brain, one of the most used mechanisms being Electroencephalography (EEG).
Here appear the Brain-Computer Interfaces or in English Brain Computer-Interfaces (BCI), where the EEG signals are processed directly. the applications such as Spellers or similar are implemented that allow, above all, to offer independence to patients suffering from ALS.
These mechanisms use signal processing algorithms and artificial intelligence to decode brain signals; extract the information that the person wants to transmit; use it to establish a communication channel with a computer, and from there control any digital device.
Text-To-Speech By Woord, A Technology For ALS Patients
Woord is our number one choice for a Text-To-Speech option for ALS patients for its intuitive design when talking about accessibility and inclusion. This Saas is an excellent tool for those who do not have much experience with this type of software; if what you need is a simple and good-quality job, Woord will fulfill the task. Also, allows you to select the type of device on which you will play the audio; doing so will apply effects that will improve the quality of the MP3 file.
Since we are talking about inclusion, we must mention that this free ai voice generator has female, male, and gender-neutral voice styles. Also, Woord has an SSML editor, allowing you to adjust the speed of the audio without affecting the quality. Many blind people have the ability to interpret sounds faster than average; adjusting the pace of the audio can make the process much faster for them.
Finally, we must say that in addition to the fact that the free option is excellent, buying a pro version can be a good investment for teaching work. In this sense, Woord is also a great option for its affordable prices.
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Also published on Medium.