Woman grateful to have her ‘own voice’ for the very first time

A Kent woman who can now speak with a synthesised voice formed by combining those of two family members says she is grateful to have her own voice for the first time.

Though intelligible natural speech has never been possible for Lauren Courtney, 48, following oxygen deprivation at birth, having a voice that would have sounded like her own was important.

Now, thanks to the support of Kent and Medway Communication and Assistive Technology (KM CAT), a service based at Kent and Canterbury Hospital, Lauren, from Sevenoaks, has a synthesised voice made up of recordings from two of her female relatives.

Lauren previously used a communication aid with computerised voices that her family likened to ‘a SatNav’.

Voice banking was suggested to Lauren by Georgina Overell, Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.

Georgina works as part of the KM CAT team, supporting those who may benefit from Alternative and Augmentative Communication, providing specialist assessments as well as support and training for patients, their families, and therapists across Kent.

When Georgina suggested the innovation to Lauren last December, two of her relatives came forward as willing voice contributors.

Lauren’s loved ones recorded lists of words and phrases in a process called voice banking performed by a private company.

These recordings were then both used to create a single personalised synthetic voice that is capable of generating an infinite number of words and sentences.

In March this year, Lauren’s father, Dr Nigel Courtney, installed the new voice to his daughter’s GridPad, a communication aid device. Lauren uses the device through a head switch. This is attached to her wheelchair.

Instead of the computerised voice Lauren had used since her teens, she was thrilled to be able to use a personalised, lifelike voice for the very first time just moments later.

Lauren’s first words were ‘Daddy, Mummy, I love you.’

She now says: ‘Having my own voice makes me so happy. It’s really motivated me to improve my skills with the technology and speak more to the other residents of the care home where I live.’

Prior to using the personalised synthetic voice, Lauren had used several communication aids.

Her father said: ‘Lauren is quadriplegic and without speech as a result of oxygen starvation during her birth. However, her mental capacity is relatively unimpaired.

‘When she was six, she could operate a BBC microcomputer with a foot switch. At 12, she learned to operate a Windows PC. At 14, she could use a head switch to operate a copy of Stephen Hawking’s speech output device.

‘KM CAT began to assist with her communication in 2019. At that point she wanted to change from her old communication system. Over time, Georgina and her team enabled Lauren to move on to something new which has more vocabulary, so she can talk about whatever she wants.

‘Although Lauren has found it challenging to adopt and master these changes, she has persevered and was thrilled to use the voice for the first time.’

Georgina Overell said: ‘Lauren is brilliant to work with. She has so much to say and it is lovely to hear her speak with her very own unique voice.’