Part 2 of: my adventures with a portable microphone

[Dagmar Munn]

In a previous column I wrote about my ALS-affected voice and what I’ve been doing to keep speaking with the voice I have. But it was frustrating in general, people l had a hard time understanding me; especially in noisy environments.

At a recent visit to my ALS Clinic, the Speech-Language Pathologist recommended I purchase and use a portable microphone. In this week’s column: Hooray! You Can Hear Me Now! I share what happened.

Have you tried any of these options (humming, breath-work, etc.) to maintain your current voice and, did they work for you? Have you tried a microphone?

 What else are you doing to keep on talking?

[Dagmar Munn]

Among the many things I’m doing to help keep using the voice I have left, is talking out loud. But, often there’s no one to talk to! And my husband isn’t always interested in chit-chat/banter.

So, I turn to the “Google Project Euphonia” that has me speaking out loud random sentences, which are recorded online and, helps Google “train” AI (artificial intelligence software) to better understand my ALS voice. I enjoy the challenge of having to pronounce words that don’t normally come up in my conversations, and, the opportunity to help advance technology.

Here’s the backstory to the project: https://alsnewstoday.com/2019/01/29/google-dysarthria-als-speech-recognition/

Here’s a link to the Google project where YOU can sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeu8eBOUwzs7PdH25v4lTXjzOVO8rfmfNIoUovLForMmYRipA/viewform

Remember, I believe we can keep talking!

[Author]

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