Apple's Latest Features Empower Speech-Impaired Individuals With Live Speech & Personal Voice

Apple Inc. AAPL has unveiled new features, Live Speech and Personal Voice, tailored to enhance communication for people with disabilities.

What Happened: These features are part of Apple’s commitment to accessibility as they are particularly beneficial for individuals with speech challenges, including those with progressive diseases such as facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy or FSHD, reported AppleInsider. 

The Personal Voice feature lets users at risk of losing their speech to create a customized voice, offering them the chance to retain their unique voices.

Switch Control and AssistiveTouch are among the alternative input methods supported by these features, further facilitating communication for individuals with physical, motor, and speech disabilities.

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Tristram Ingham, a physician and disability community leader diagnosed with FSHD, has reaped the benefits of these revolutionary features. He can be seen in the latest short video shared by Apple. 

Personal Voice and other Apple tools enable him to continue contributing to his community and maintain personal connections despite the potential loss of his speaking voice.

Blair Casey, executive director of Team Gleason, underscored the significance of these tools in preserving the identity of people facing speech loss due to conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS.

Sarah Herrlinger, Apple’s senior director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives, highlighted Apple’s inclusive design philosophy, saying, “At Apple, we design for everyone, and that includes individuals with disabilities.”

Why It Matters: Apple has consistently demonstrated its commitment to making technology more accessible for people with disabilities. 

Earlier this year, the company introduced a range of assistive technologies to empower users with cognitive, speech, and vision disabilities.

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