Voice Trainer
The Voice trainer is an app that provides real-time feedback on the loudness and pitch of the voice. The app was developed by the Rehabilitation Department at Radboudumc.
read moreVoice Trainer
Being able to speak intelligibly is essential for daily communication with family, friends, and at work. For various reasons, intelligble speech can become problematic, including for people with neurological conditions. In the majority of persons with Parkinson's disease, reduced speech intelligibility becomes a gradually increasing problem. Speaking louder while simultaneously keeping the voice low-pitched can make speech immediately more understandable. This treatment technique, the Pitch Limiting Voice Treatment (PLVT), has been used by Dutch speech-language therapists for more than 30 years and is now also used internationally.
To maintain sufficiently loud and low-pitched speech, it is important for persons with Parkinson's to be able to monitor this directly while speaking. This led to the idea of developing an app that provides feedback on loudness and pitch.
With financial support from the Dutch Parkinson Association and the Innovative Healthcare Insurers Fund (IFZ), the Voice trainer application was developed. This app has now become an integral part of speech therapy for people with Parkinson's disease. Through ParkinsonNet, Radboudumc is therefore committed to training more speech-language therapists in the use of the Voice trainer.
How does the Voice trainer work?
The Voice trainer provides real-time feedback on both loudness and pitch using a single dot on the screen. This allows you to instantly see what you can adjust in your voice to improve your intelligibility.
read moreHow does the Voice trainer work?
As soon as you start the Voice trainer, you will see a dot appear on your screen that is either green or red.
While you speak, the Voice trainer uses the dot to show whether you are speaking at the preset loudness and pitch levels. The dot:
- is green when you are speaking loudly enough,
- is red when you are speaking too softly,
- is positioned in the center of the screen when your pitch is correct,
- Moves up (or down) when your voice is too high (or too low) in pitch.
You can adjust the tresholds yourself in the Settings menu, but in most cases your speech-language therapist will do this for you. The therapist can fine-tune the Voice trainer specifically to your voice, allowing you to practice effectively with the app both during and after your speech therapy sessions.
Where do I find the Voice trainer?
The Voice trainer costs a one-time fee of €9.99 and is available for both iOS and Android.
read moreWhere do I find the Voice trainer?
The Voice trainer costs a one-time fee of $9.99 and is available for both iOS and Android.
Click on the link to go directly to the download page:
For people using the Voice trainer, it is possible to access additional features in the app for free. This is only available if the treating speech-language therapists has access to the online Voice trainer dashboard through ParkinsonNet.
For whom
The Voice trainer provides immediate visual feedack while you speak, showing whether you are using the intended loudness and pitch. This can be beneficial for many people, such as:
- people with Parkinson's disease who have started speaking more softly or mumbling,
- people whose speech is less intelligible due to ataxia,
- people who need to learn to speak louder at work without straining their voice, for example teachers, presenters, etc.,
- transgender individuals who want to use a higher or lower pitch,
- people who are hard of hearing and want to speak less loudly.
What is the Voice trainer dashboard?
The Voice trainer dashboard is a program that speech-language therapists can use. With this dashboard, therapists can support their patients even more effectively when using the Voice trainer.
lees meerWhat is the Voice trainer dashboard?
The Voice trainer dashboard is a program that speech-language therapists can access through their web browser. Using the dashboard, they can, among other things:
- Adjust their patients’ Voice trainer settings remotely
- View their practice performance
- Send reminders to encourage practice
Scientific Research
The added value of the Voice trainer has been scientifically researched.
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