Today, details about a relatively new opportunity to give back, via voice-over.
The founders of Vocal ID realized that there were only two voices available for those who didn’t have a voice of their own. Men and boys who needed audio for their text got the same voice that Stephen Hawking uses. Women and girls had the other option of an adult woman. So they started a website where people can bank their voice for themselves or for others. When there’s a need, they closely match the original voice of the person who needs it, with one in the bank. For example, a young girl named Maeve who has Cerebral Palsy now uses the voice of her sister Erin. For the first time, Maeve can “talk” to her family. (Read Maeve’s story here, on Buzzfeed)
Thousands of people in 110 countries have taken part, and now so have we. You simply register at vocalid.co and record words and phrases they supply via your home recording set-up. It couldn’t be simpler. Just the thought of someone who can no longer speak, sounding like me, gives me shivers of joy!
That is so cool! Thanks for sharing the info Lisa. Have a great day!
The recording industry has been doing sampling of sounds and voices for years and this would seem like a perfect value added solutions to those without a voice of there own. Not sure who would wish to sound like me, but I shall definitely look into this and add my voice.
I really hate to tell the folks at Vocal ID, but there are dozens of voices available for those using text to speech and I’ve tried many of them. In the 3 decades of using screen readers I’ve witnessed the evolution of text to speech systems with the voice assistant used on iPhones called Siri is an example of this technology. What Vocal ID can offer is that personal touch which you can’t get out of the box.
I believe that when they started working on their technology, there weren’t other options. The President of the company got the idea when she heard a 9 year old child using the same voice as Stephen Hawking. It takes time to get this stuff up and running!
What type of things are you asked to record? I’m trying to get a sense of what might be involved, I’m not a pro so trying to listen to something only to recite and record it can be a challenge, to many voices in my head at once.
It’s all pretty basic, at least to start. I’ve done several dozen recordings and they’ve been common phrases and one-word responses such as “Great” and “I’ll talk to you later.”
What a coinkydink because I was going to write to you and tell you about this. I told my husband about it and he said they have the capability to computer generate different voices including children’s and he didn’t see why they needed real people’s voices (he’s the “practical” one in the family). So I said screw you Mr. Spoily-pants I’m going to look into it anyway. Thank you for posting the link, Lisa.
I’m glad you’re doing it! Mr. Spoily-Pants doesn’t have to get involved! heehee