ALS and speech

An initiative at a University of Illinois campus that aims to improve voice recognition software for people with speech difficulties is recruiting adults in the U.S. and Puerto Rico living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Known as the Speech Accessibility Project, it is led by the Urbana-Champaign…

A new advance in technology may pave the way for devices that could allow people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who have lost the ability to speak to communicate using their thoughts alone. The new tech was described in a study, “High-resolution neural recordings improve the…

Aural Analytics‘ speech analytics software app for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), intended for use by researchers and doctors working in the disease, has been designated a breakthrough device by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The designation is meant to speed the development and review of…

To help those who have lost their ability to speak easily, Georgia Southern University’s RiteCare Center for Communications Disorders again is recruiting students, faculty, and staff members to make recordings for submission to a voice bank. The center’s third annual Voice Drive, which runs through May 2, is…

The Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering is planning to launch a trial of its wireless brain computer interface (BCI), called ABILITY, in enabling people to communicate using only their thoughts. The study is expected to involve people in locked-in states — in which they are fully aware, but unable to…

Is it just me, or are people speaking at a faster clip nowadays? Yeah, maybe it’s just me. It seems I’ve become hypersensitive to the various speeds and rhythms we use to communicate with each other, especially now that I live with dysarthria, a symptom of ALS that affects…

A partnership between Rolls Royce and the U.K.-based Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association is helping people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) preserve the sound of their voices simply by reading a book into a computer. Called voice banking, the process is a way to record a person’s voice…

Cue the heroic Olympic theme song, our competitor is ready to begin! As the timekeeper signals all onlookers to be silent, the athlete draws in a deep breath, then while slowly exhaling, counts out loud from one to 10. She successfully completes the task using just that single breath…

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that attacks motor neurons, leading to wastage of the muscles. This affects every area of the body and as the disease progresses, patients begin to experience speech impairments and will eventually lose the ability to speak. MORE: Explaining the progression of ALS.