How can technology save your life?

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How can technology save your life? Today, we present you a short video of Alex Pagnoni, one of the founders of the TNT blog, demonstrating the benefits that technology can have in medicine education. Dr. Pagnoni shows us how close we are from a revolutionary transformation in medicine thanks to the rapid technological advancements. Hope you enjoy the video.
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VoiceBox: Changing Lives Of The Vocally Impaired

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Imagine walking into a doctor’s clinic to get that cut on your tongue, that’s not healing, examined. The biopsy confirms the presence of cancerous cells. In the next meeting with your oncologist, your worst nightmare comes true - the doctor informs you  that 2/3rd of your tongue will be removed which would lead to loss of voice.

Millions  of people around the world lose their voice every year due to diseases such ALS, oral cancers, etc. Question arises, can technology help these patients get their voice back?

If you’ve watched the movie ‘Theory of Everything’, the first image that would pop into your mind when we say ‘artificial voice box’ would be that of Stephen Hawking using his ‘text to speech’ machine to deliver lectures in a ‘robotic’ voice. Now, imagine, 100s of patients using the same ‘robotic’ voice to communicate with no intonation and no eloquence.

Your voice is unique to you and is a part of your identity. VocalID recognised the need of ‘preserving voice’ in order to provide the vocally impaired with a customized or bespoke voice. VocalID set up the first ever ‘Human Voicebank’ that crowdsources voices - allowing anyone with an internet connection to donate/preserve their voice that would get catalogued in their library.


How Donor Voice Is Used:
The donors can record 2-3 hours of their voice from the comfort of their homes. VocalID uses AI to synthesize a digital voice wherein it combines source with the filter. The source (vocal cords, larynx and throat muscles) is responsible for creating the sound of our laughter, etc. while filter (muscles) gives our voice distinctiveness. The AI recognizes the vowels from the source and combines it with the filter. While the source is provided by the donors, the filter is provided by the patient or the client. VocalID blends the voice of the donor with that of the patient to produce a ‘bespoke’ voice. The voice donor is matched with the patient based on their age, gender etc.

The Technique Of Voice Preservation:
The clients/patients record 2-3 hours of their speech and the AI recognises the vowels, the intonation etc. that can be used later to create speech through the text-to-speech pre-programmed machines. The difference is that, now, the voice box would be producing the voice of the patient instead of producing a pre-programmed robotic voice.

Once the digitized voice is created, it can be used as a plug-in to the machine that patient is using. With VocalID, a bedridden mother can now read her child bedtime stories, a lawyer can present his/her argument and a student can recite a poem in a classroom full of students.


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