Augmented Assistance Technology. Question and Answer session with Michael Cash from Voiceitt.

SaraC_Scope

Michael Cash-Voiceitt.

Question one: Hi Michael, Welcome to Scope’s online community. We’re here today discussing Augmented Assistive Communication (AAC), particularly your company Voiceitt. Before we get into the details, tell me about yourself and your background.

Answer: From a young age my parents noticed I wasn’t reaching the same milestones as other young children. They sought advice and established I had cerebral palsy. I had physio and speech therapy for many years, to give me the confidence to communicate with others and the world around me.

I had the support of my family and attended primary and secondary school, where I achieved my GCSE’s. I went to college and did a BTEC National in computing. I moved to university and graduated with a BSC Degree in Computing.

After university I joined a company called Compact on their graduate training programme for three years.

In 2005 I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next. I met a company called Wizz Education who were developing an online maths tuition programme for schools. When I heard about this programme, it felt like a miracle. I’ve always found maths difficult as I can’t write and show my workings, but I dreamed there would be a different way to do math. I joined the company and visited schools across London, presenting maths training to students and teachers. I was with the company for 12 years.

In 2017, I was appointed to the role of an assistive tech trainer, supporting university students with additional needs, who required specialist technology to help them with their learning. e.g. speech recognition.

I’ve always wanted to live in Isreal as I have friends and family who live there. In 2019 I decided to move abroad, but what to do for work? I’d met the company Voiceitt previously, but at the time the company wasn’t for me. I connected with the CEO of the company in 2020 and asked if we could have a meeting. A month later I started with Voiceitt as a Quality Assurance tester. Initially the role was quite basic. But where I am now and how the company has progressed is amazing.

Question two: What is the product you have developed?

Answer: Currently we have a voice recognition technology for people with non-standard speech. This has been a game changer for people as it allows them to use their voice to dictate emails and work-related documents. The technology can be used on any device if there is internet connection. We use A.I. and big language modules to help Voiceitt understand the individual’s unique speech patterns. In the beginning we need users to record a number of phrases to build a model of their voice.

Question three: Why is AAC important to the disabled community?

Answer: AAC in society is important to allow people to communicate and interact with society. If I hadn’t had the technology at school, I couldn’t have sat my exams.

Question four: What makes Voiceitt different to other AAC products?

Answer: We are the main voice recognition technology for people without standard speech. Other tech companies have tried to contribute to the space, but Voiceitt is the only company that works across different platforms and integrates with video conferencing calls. Voiceitt allows you to dictate directly into a Google document or Google email. We now have a Chrome extension that allows you to use your Voiceitt login to dictate directly into websites.

Question five: If people want to learn more, what are the ways to contact you?

People can visit the website to learn more about Voiceitt

Michael, thank you for your time today.

Do you use AAC? What are the best products that you have used? What are the problems?

Let us know in the comments!

egister

Briefly: the service is, in my opinion, very expensive. For it to work effectively, without the relative cost of the service, you need a 6-month trial for the system to send all spoken words and expressions. It's like teaching a parrot to talk, no joke.