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Speech Aids

Speech aids are most often used by the visually impaired through the use of speech synthesis. Speech synthesis is the artificial reproduction of the human voice. The most common use of these systems is converting text to speech through the use of a computer program. These are also good for people who have trouble reading, and people who cannot use their own voice.

Early speech synthesizers were mechanical, with parts that imitated vocal cords, tongue and lips but it wasn’t until digital versions came out that they began being used as speech aids. The first digital models sounded very robotic, and were difficult to understand at times, but they have continually been improved and can sound very lifelike.

These speech aids can be integrated into smaller wearable devices that allow the user to travel and move freely, and still be able to communicate. Some require input from a regular sized computer, while some have special controls that go through a process of narrowing down words until the correct word is chosen.

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