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Sla, the Voice Bank is born. With AI to give it to those who have lost it

2023-02-07T08:20:09.095Z


Donate your voice to people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to give them back the ability to communicate with an artificial voice with human expressiveness, all thanks to artificial intelligence. (HANDLE)


 Donate your voice to people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to give them back the ability to communicate with an artificial voice with human expressiveness, all thanks to artificial intelligence.

The international project 'Voice for purpose - Let's give voice to ALS' starts from Italy, i.e. the creation of a real 'voice bank' which brings together the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, NeMO Clinical Centres, Nemo Lab, Translated and Dream On. Together to enable people with vocal impairments to use an expressive voice.


    The initiative was presented today in the presence of the Minister of Health and the Health Directorate of the European Commission, under the aegis of the Italian Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association (AISLA).


    Born from an intuition of Pino Insegno, actor and voice actor, the project aims to give life to a 'voice bank' with a double value: on the one hand it will allow people who have lost their speech to choose an expressive voice among all those that will be donated by people from all over the world;

on the other, it will allow you to 'save' your voice, by recording it.

Possibilities that will be accessible to all those who still have the ability to speak, so that in the future no one will be forced to speak with a metallic voice when the disease affects it.

The project therefore aims to create the conditions for every person with ALS to access a Voice Banking service to preserve their voice and benefit from the use of personal or donated speech synthesis.

when verbal communication is only possible with the aid of Augmentative-Alternative Communication (ACA) technological supports and devices.

This in order to maintain its identity also with the help of AAC technologies, which are currently supplied through the National Health System with a standard robotic and metallic vocal synthesis.


    Anyone can donate their voice to those who don't keep it and, to date, there are already 250 voices donated.

When creating their profile on the 'Voice For Purpose' platform, the donor will be asked to register their voice by reading a short message.

The potential donor will then be contacted only when selected by a person who needs to acquire a donated speech synthesis. 

Meloni, with 'Voce alla Sla' technology at the service of the person

I am happy that Italy is a protagonist in this field

"The loss of the ability to speak with one's voice is one of the reasons of greatest suffering for people who are affected by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Losing one's voice means losing a fundamental piece of one's identity, of the ability to relate to the other, starting with loved ones and those who love you".

This was underlined by the premier, Giorgia Meloni, in an ideomessage at the press conference to present the "Voce alla Sla" project, thanking "those who took part in this important initiative and who made this extraordinary project possible: the Minister of Health Schillaci, the rector of Campus Bio Medico Guglielmelli, Translated and Nemo Lab, Pino Insegno".


"You have chosen to take up this challenge, to put technology at the service of the person and to imagine a synergy capable of giving voice back to those who have lost it - added the premier -. Health is not just the cure and exclusion of disease but full well-being of the person and the well-being of a person with ALS also depends on the ability to be able to express oneself with one's voice. From the ability to fully express one's emotions and to relate to others. I was able to watch the spot of your project and I must confess that I found it very exciting. I'm really happy that Italy can be a protagonist in this field, demonstrate a great capacity for innovation, transversality, multidisciplinarity but above all generosity".


"I want to sincerely thank you - Meloni said again in conclusion - for having wanted to create this moment of attention and awareness on a disease like ALS. I thank you for having managed to combine technology and solidarity and for having shown that Italy has no nothing to envy to anyone and which has all the credentials to be at the forefront of innovation and research".


Schillaci, contribution from Italy research but much to do

'A thousand hospitalizations a year in Irccs.

Overcoming regional disparities'

 Currently, the scientific hospitalization and treatment institutes (IRCCS) "account for about 1,000 hospitalizations a year" for ALS and "1,500 outpatient visits, and in recent decades the contribution of Italian researchers and clinicians has been significant, however much remains to be done for people affected by ALS and for their families who bear a heavy burden of assistance, particularly in some regional and local realities where difficulties remain in the provision of social and health services. Disparities that must be overcome".

This was stated by the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, at the presentation of the 'Voice for purpose - Let's give voice to ALS' project.


"We must continue to strengthen support for research and increase responses to people's needs; regain the voice - underlined Schillaci, commenting on the project for the creation of a Voice Bank to give it back to patients who have lost it due to the disease - for an ALS patient it means inclusion and not losing one's social interactions. All this is combined with the added value of the donation of the voice thanks to the idea of ​​Pino Insegno, who made his voice available by inviting everyone to a gesture of generosity to strengthen the culture of donation also in this area".

The goal, he added, is therefore "to draw and forcefully renew attention to a serious and complex neurodegenerative disease,

on the needs of those who suffer from it and of the families who assist them, and on the precious work of the associations". Schillaci recalled, ALS is included in the Lea essential levels of assistance and the Ministry has financed various projects and studies focused on identification of disease markers and pharmacological trials.

To date, there is no definitive therapy for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, but the effort of the scientific community and research is unceasing to make the hope of defeating this disease more concrete".

identification of disease markers and pharmacological trials.

To date, there is no definitive therapy for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, but the effort of the scientific community and research is unceasing to make the hope of defeating this disease more concrete".

identification of disease markers and pharmacological trials.

To date, there is no definitive therapy for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, but the effort of the scientific community and research is unceasing to make the hope of defeating this disease more concrete".

Gallina (EU), a therapeutic vaccine is being studied

'Crucial Referral Networks, Access to Drugs and Research Funds'

 A project is active which aims to create a therapeutic vaccine against ALS.

This was stated by Sandra Gallina, director general for health and food safety of the European Commission, via video connection on the occasion of the presentation of the project 'Let's give voice to ALS'.


The 'Voice Bank' project for ALS patients, underlined Gallina, "is important, because it is essential to improve the patients' quality of life".

To this end, she recalled, "the European Commission's commitment in the field of rare diseases is strong, with significant investments for the reference networks, which involve 1669 health units in 26 Member States".

Priority is also.

indicated Gallina, the "pharmaceutical review which also foresees the review of the legislation on orphan drugs, to guarantee patients throughout Europe access to affordable medicines".

Another crucial area is research: "95% of rare diseases - he said - have no treatments available. For this we have allocated 2,

4 billion to research on rare diseases and in 2019 a joint program was created with co-financing that sees national and European financiers with 35 countries involved.

By joining forces - he added - we can do it".


Via video link, thanks to the Italian government for the 'Let's give voice to ALS' project also came from the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who underlined the central role of new technologies in the fight against rare diseases.



Source: ansa

All life articles on 2023-02-07

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