Artificial intelligence to restore voice to ALS patients. How to become a donor – breaking latest news

Giving voice to ALS patients – Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to restore speech loss to those who have lost their speech possibility to communicate choosing an expressive voice from those that will be donated by people from all over the world; but also “save” your voice, recording it and, if in the future it should be lost, using the synthesis after some time. the provisions of the Voice for purpose project – Artificial intelligence to restore the voice to people affected by ALS, promoted by the University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, NeMO Clinical Centers, Nemo Lab, Translated, Dream On and AISLA – Italian Lateral Sclerosis Association Amyotrophic. It’s about a digital technology platform aimed at overcoming non-personalized speech synthesis e returnto those who no longer have one human voice also complete with expressive capabilitiesthus restoring dignity to people and their emotions. Anyone can become a donor with a small sampling of your own voice.

The illness

ALS is a rare, severe and progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks i motor neurons, or the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that allow the movements of the voluntary muscles. It affects 2-3 people in every 100,000, mainly adults between the ages of 40 and 70.
At the moment there is still no cure for the terrible ALS. We entrust our hopes to researchers waiting for the news that it can change the course of our disease – says the president of Aisla, Fulvia Massimelli -. Now, however, we exist. Think what it means unable to speaknon being able to express one’s needs, one’s feelings. Today there are voice communicators but speaking with a very sad metallic voice. This project, however, can make a difference for people with ALS because it gives possibility not only of having a human voice back but most of all
Of restore soul and identity in relationships.
Adds Stefano Regondi, general manager of NeMO Clinical Centers and Nemo Lab, the first Italian technological hub exclusively dedicated to neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases: Those who live with a neuromuscular pathology have to deal with physical limits every day, in this sense technology represents one fundamental tool at the service of the need for autonomy of each.

The project

Building a digital voice ecosystem the goal of the initiative, born from an intuition of Pino Insegno, an actor and voice actor who has put the voice at the center of his life. Voice for purpose is the first step of a broad path that will bring together the contributions of neuroscience research with digital technologies, artificial intelligence, advanced sensors and robotics.
With our research units – explains Eugenio Guglielmelli, rector of the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome and scientific director of the Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation – we will work at the development of advanced intelligent systems which, also through the data provided by some physiological parameters that can be monitored, make it possible to make the patient’s intention and state perceptible to give him back a major communication skills and social interaction in support of the quality of his independent life. A concept also reiterated by the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci, who spoke at the presentation of the platform. Regaining the voice for an ALS patient means inclusion, not losing one’s social interactions said the minister, who recalled that the ministry has financed various researches focused on the identification of markers of the disease and on pharmacological trials.

Voice bank

CAnyone can give their voice by accessing the Voice for purpose platform (Who). During the creation of his profile, the donor will be asked to register his voice by reading a short voice message. The potential donor will be contacted only when selected by a person who needs to acquire a donated speech synthesis.
Also on the platform you can “self-donate” own voice by recording it in order to preserve it and use it to produce speech synthesis, if in the future it were to be lost and the use of technological devices was necessary to communicate.
People who have lost their voice, on the other hand, can acquire a donated speech synthesis. After creating your account on the platform, you can listen to the voices available on the library (to date there are 250 vocal donations) to select up to three. Once the availability of the donor has been acquired, the same will proceed with the recording of his voice, which will subsequently be processed to generate the donated vocal synthesis.
The voices offered by the platform will be characterized by natural expressiveness which will allow for transmit not only the concepts but even moods, emotions or worries.