Speech synthesis has come a long way since its early days of monotone voices and mispronounced words. Today’s synthetic voices, utilized in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, have appropriate inflection, a variety of accents, and excellent pronunciation. Combined with using recordings from voice actors, a speech-generating device today has a very human feel to it. With these advancements, is it worthwhile to pursue “voice banking” – recording a patient’s own voice, creating a “bank” of words and phrases – for use in an AAC device? Here are some common questions and answers about voice banking.
