Voice Problems. Going... going ... g

[arkallen]

I'd love some advice from those of us who have already dealt with this problem.

After a good six months with a voice amplifier, I am beginning to find it difficult to raise my voice - even with the amplifier - to an audible level for more than a few brief words. It seems to have come to this rather quickly. Over Christmas I was pretty good, and conversation flowed around the table for hours. A couple of days back I broke my microphone and the 24 hours it took to get a friend lined up to solder it back together were quite awfull voice-wise. I was enourmously fatigued by trying to talk without it. I wonder if Iv'e done some damage?

At any rate, my voice has gradually been fading for two years, and Im now at the point where I would really just as soon not talk; it's too uncomfortable. Perhpahs it will recover a little in coming days, but sooner or later I reckon it will fade away even more.

So ... what should I think about? What are the transitions that need to be made? Any and all advice would be most welcome. Strangely I dont feel too panicked about this; but I would also welcome any commments about the emotional journey involved.

KBO!

 

[joelc]

Sorry about this development. I am pleased to see you are not stressed over it. I was never stressed about what happened to me either and that has helped my wife immensely. Barry directed me in this direction and I have been using this for sometime now. Take a look at what the 2 of us have done. It works great!

TextToSpeech

 

[Tokahfang]

I use a speech netbook also, and I find it to be very effective. Barry is a genius!

The hardest part, ironically, was "training" people to wait and listen to me. Good friends are a must.

 

[BarryG]

Thanks but I only put together what others were using. I got the netbook idea from Jennifer51 (RIP Jennifer) and the NextUp program my SLP recommended. As my arms are going (fast) I am using my iPod with Proloquo2Go more and more and have been practicing with Dasher on the netbook. Using a replacement voice does have it's challenges but it it is still a lot better than being silent.

 

[arkallen]

Thank you Joel & Barry.

Ive been looking at Netbooks latley as I find the laptop rather heavy to lift. I even collected a little Christmas gift money with an Ipad or something similar in mind, so I might invest I think. Today I had to write a message to my wife in Word so she could read it - bit of a milestone. I've had etriloquist for a while on reccomeddatin of a speech thereapist months ago when I was in a bit of premature planning phase. Ive not used it, but Ill give it a try. Back in the premature phase I also recorded my own voice with ModelTalker - it's recognisably me.