Around the world, there are millions who cannot speak, either because of brain injuries or conditions such as autism. Now, some students at the University of Toronto have come up with an app that merges a voice synthesizer with a GPS to give people the words they need, wherever they are.
The device is called MyVoice. It’s an assistive communication device similar to the technology used by Stephen Hawking that helps users to speak. But unlike the unwieldy and expensive voice synthesizers of old, MyVoice can be downloaded onto iPhones, iPads and Android devices.
The app helps users create customized dictionaries of their most commonly used words and phrases to fit their most common conversation topics.
What makes MyVoice unique is that it’s location-specific, built to use a smartphone’s GPS system to determine the user’s location. It then pulls up the phrases they need for that location.
“So when you go to Tim Hortons, you get words like ‘Timbits’ and ‘double-double.’ When you go to the movie theatre, you get ‘tickets,’ ‘seats’, ‘soft drinks’,” explains designer Aakash Sahney (EngSci, ECE option).
“Usually, people would have to navigate through a huge hierarchy of words on a traditional device in order to find these seemingly unrelated words. But using our technology, using MyVoice, they’re able to very quickly get to the words that they actually need to say at that time.”
