Name: How to speak when you don't have a voice | BBC Ideas
Uploaded: 2022-04-21T02:51:45.000Z
Duration: 5 min 9 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

We talk using electronic communication aids -

Some disabled people have no voice or are very difficult to understand.

This does not mean we have nothing to say.

We can communicate using alternative and augmentative communication,

Most communication aids are touchscreen computers

onscreen alphabet or symbol-based software.

But many of us have limited hand function,

We might use a switch controlled by the hand,

until a selection is made with the switch.

In recent years, eye gaze technology has allowed many people

to control a communication aid using eye movement,

tracked by a carefully calibrated camera.

The same technology can also provide independent control

Early synthesised speech sounded somewhat robotic

Today a wide range of accents and characteristics are available,

although some people keep the voices they have always used.

Stephen Hawking chose not to update his voice,

because it was so well known and had become part of his identity.

Now "voice banking" is becoming more accessible and affordable.

Someone whose speaking voice will soon be lost can record words

and phrases from which the sounds of their voice

Technology for talking is increasingly individualised.

But often the biggest challenge is the attitude of others.

It takes me a long time to compose a message.

because they get bored or think I'm incapable of responding.

We are often disregarded or patronised by people

who do not recognise that we have something to contribute

Technology for talking can seem slow and frustrating,

Sarah Ezekiel creates beautiful art using eye gaze technology.

topped the New York Times' bestseller list.

Helen Quiller helps run a national charity supporting disabled children.

And I am Jemima Hughes, a filmmaker and animator.

Technology gives us a voice and enables us to participate.

So next time you meet someone who talks with a communication aid,

If you give us time to answer, you'll find we have something to say.

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How to speak when you don't have a voice | BBC Ideas

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