Loss of speech - Advice needed.

[poppies]

Hi everyone, I am looking for advice and feedback from those of you who have experienced loss of speech. My husband is still working, running his own business, but his speech is continuing to deteriorate (as it has done for the past year). He has so much on his shoulders and is taking things one day at a time. I am trying to help by being one step ahead and finding out practical ways that he can communicate if/when his speech becomes unintelligible. I have heard that an Iphone has an app that one can use. I have heard of voice banking - have any of you done it? What else is available that you have used/would recommend? Has anyone continued working after losing their voice? How about emotions? It must be incredibly hard to lose such an important part of who you are, what can I do to make things easier for him? Any advice you have would be so appreciated! God bless you all, I can't tell you how much all of your posts are helping me during this process.

 

[momap53]

There are a couple of aps for iPhone that are text to speech.
Speak It and Proloque
Check out older posts on speech issues

 

[Nighthawk]

I second what Momap53 posted above.
I have an iPad and the two apps I use the most when I need to communicate with my family, friends, or strangers are Speak It! and, Proloquo2Go.
I suppose both of them should be the same apps for iPhone. Proloquo2Go is a little bit pricey ($190) whereas Soeak It! costs just $20 but with the later you just have to type everything you want to say whereas Proloquo2Go has symbols that you can tap on and will say what you want to.

About voice banking, I believe that for him to be able to achieve that, he has still to be able to speak. If he can no longer speak, then it would be difficult to bank his voice.


Hope this helps.

NH

 

[poppies]

Thanks so much, I've made a note of those two apps for future reference. He is still speaking, his speech is best in the morning and then gets worse throughout the day and in stressful situations. I'm glad you mentioned your Ipad because that's what he has, he doesn't have an Iphone. Thanks for your replies.

 

[momap53]

You may record his voice on the computer by making wave files. My understanding is that these files could then be transfered over to the Dy na vox later on. Sorry, I haven't tried this yet.

 

[jellis86]

Hi poppies, sorry about your husband and I can surely relate to his situation.

I recorded my voice on my touch-pad and my phone using the voice recording app that is built in. But I agree with Nighthawk, I had waited too long and my voice had deteriorated too far for banking, but it gives my wife and I an idea of how it has regressed over time. Just wish I had started way back, but who knew?!

Momap53 and NH, I have the choice to choose which app I get with an Ipad mini to help me communicate. Is it my guess that you would both go with Proloquo2Go?

 

[ltbeauti]

My voice has gone from nasal sounding to just garbled sounds.
I use an iPad with the speak it app. It is a good app and cheap. I also us Verbally app. When the place is noisy or I need to project volume I use a tiny Bluetooth speaker.
I do not have an iPhone and they are no good speech apps for Android phones. So I use an app called Deaf Note. It is free and you can adjust the size of font so that I can use even without my glasses. Speech apps do not project well on phones anyway, so i use the Deaf Note to type my message and then show it to the recipient. Check out the Deaf Note app for Android.

 

[Nighthawk]

"Jellis86",

If I had the choice of which speech aid app to install on my iPad, I would definitely go for Proloquo2Go, even when it's pricey compared to other apps such as Speak It!, it is more helpful because it uses symbols for everything you may want to say and you just need to tap on the appropriate symbol and it will say it out loud. It has symbols for almost every situation you may encounter.
With other apps like Speak It!, you have to build your sentences letter by letter from scratch which takes more time and effort.

I have both on my iPad but I use Proloquo2Go more than I use Speak It!
I think that even when this Proloquo2Go app cost me $190, it was worth it, money was well spent.

Hope this helps.

NH

 

[jpsteeler99]

Neudexta is worth a shot if you can get your doctor to prescribe it. I have a noticable improvement in speech, not perfect but much better. I might have started to have some swallowing issues before starting Neudexta(very minor), they are gone now. I had some minor emotional liability, all gone. I had to tell my dr that I was having emotional liability to get the prescription. They would not prescribe it for swallowing or speech problems. It is very pricey($800 per month) but if you have insurance, give it a shot. My dr even had free samples they gave me that I took for two weeks. There is a clinical trial happening right now to test these effects. Don't wait for the trial, get it now. Just say your having emotional liability and they will prescribe it. I would be glad to answer any questions......