Stroke patients get their voice back thanks to new wearable device

London (PA Media/dpa) – Stroke patients have been given their voice back thanks to a new washable device worn around the neck. University of Cambridge experts have created Revoice, a technology which could cut out the need for invasive brain implants and enables patients to communicate naturally. Revoice combines sensors and artificial intelligence to decode speech signals and emotional cues in patients to deliver words and complete sentences. The team behind it hope it could also be used by people with other conditions, such as Parkinson’s and motor neurone disease (MND). Revoice is worn as a soft and flexible choker around the neck, picking up the patient’s heart rate and tiny vibrations from throat muscles. These signals are translated speedily by the device into words. The technology can then predict which sentence the patient is trying to say and can deliver that as well. Patients can silently mouth speech, while another part of the AI can interpret emotional state and contextual information, such as the time of day or weather conditions. In a small trial with five patients with dysarthria, which is difficulty speaking that can happen after stroke, the device got everything right except 4.2% of words and 2.9% of sentences. Current technology to aid speech can be more time-consuming, requiring the patient to input letters one by one or relying on eye tracking or brain implants. Patients in speech therapy also regain words by repeating them over time. Professor Luigi Occhipinti from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, who led the research, told the Press Association: “The device helps both the patient and the therapist to establish a more effective therapy for recovering speech, or fluency in speech.” While therapy helps people with stroke regain words through repeating them, Prof Occhipinti said “when they are asked to speak freely, they can struggle and sometimes they can feel frustrated”. He added: “We have created a device which, from the point of view of the patient, helps them communicate more effectively. “It does this in two ways – one is by capturing the signals that are associated with words, and then translating the words in a given language in a way that this can be elaborated and heard by another person through a synthesizer. “The device also captures the signals associated with a patient’s emotional status, alongside other signals associated with the environment such as time of day, temperature and so on. “This is a wearable device which is designed to be comfortable. It can be used outside a hospital setting too so that when patients are back home, they can gradually recover and restore their language function. “This is about giving people their independence back. Communication is fundamental to dignity and recovery.” People can also control the device by nodding twice to tell it if they want it to expand their words into sentences. The study, which will be built on in further research, was published in the journal Nature Communications. Participants in the study reported a 55% increase in satisfaction. "Many (stroke survivors) experience communication difficulties such as dysarthria, which affects the muscles used for speech. This can have a major impact on confidence, relationships and independence after stroke," said Juliet Bouverie, chief executive of the Stroke Association. "We welcome early-stage research exploring new ways to support stroke survivors with communication difficulties. Technologies like Revoice are at a very early stage and have so far been tested with only a small number of people, so the findings should be seen as preliminary." Bouverie called for more research to understand how effective this approach is and whom it might benefit. "Specialist stroke rehabilitation will always be essential, but as the number of stroke survivors grows, carefully tested innovations may help to complement existing support and enable more people to regain their independence." The following information is not intended for publication pa dpa coh

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