According to UNICEF, there are at least 93 million children with disabilities in the world. These children are often coming from parents that deal with poverty and famine. There are as many cases of disabled children in poorer countries as there are in first-world nations.
These kids are less likely to attend school, access medical services, or have their voices heard in society. Additionally, their disabilities place them at a higher risk of physical abuse, and often exclude them from receiving proper nutrition or humanitarian assistance in emergencies.
Specifically, many of the children affected by disabilities have issues with language and the motor processing required for it. Voiceitt, a startup company based in Israel and the United States, has come up with the software for introducing the world’s first speech recognition technology designed to understand non-standard speech. The name of the company’s first major product is Talkitt.
At the Core of the Company
At its core, Voiceitt is the startup that builds speech recognition software for non-standard and dysarthric speech. The mobile app is in closed beta testing already, and it is mainly a hands-free voice recognition app. It enables face-to-face, real-time communication between the non-standard speaker and their family, friends and everyone around them.
If necessary, users can integrate the app into smart homes, augmentative communication devices and smart speakers, among other technologies. Most sufferers of diseases like brain cancer, stroke, TBI or autism are non-standard speakers. Voiceitt’s Talkitt helps these people have a more integrated, simple and normal life. All it takes is an app on their phone to erase some of the difficulties associated with the speech impediment.
The Future of Voiceitt
Overall, Fortune Business Insights valued the global market for speech and voice recognition software at approximately 6.2 billion EUR in 2018. It is expected to reach 28.3 billion by 2026. While most of the market sales come from smart speakers, intelligent homes and voice-activated cars and phones, it’s encouraging to have startups like Voiceitt around. Additionally, the company hopes to work with larger technology providers to integrate its software into devices.
It’s because of people like those who invented Talkitt that millions of people, young and old, who can’t speak the way most of their peers do will soon be able to thrive more than before.