BWM Dentsu Sydney has won a 2018 Grand Prix for Good in Cannes for its Project Revoice campaign for the ALS Association. Via PR Newswire:
The ALS Association today announced the launch of “Project Revoice,” an international initiative to help people with ALS [also known as Motor Neurone Disease] record their voices so they still use their “voice” after they lose their ability to speak. The new technology, powered by the Canadian company Lyrebird, can recreate high-quality voices with only a few hours of “voice banking.”
To demonstrate the power of this innovation, Project Revoice has given Pat Quinn, co-founder of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, a recreation of his voice. Pat did not record (or bank) his voice before ALS robbed him of his ability to speak, but using footage from his many Ice Bucket Challenge interviews, Project Revoice was able to clone his voice. See full video here.
Quinn said: “This takes speech tech to a whole new level and means everything to how I communicate. I really didn’t like to hear my old computer voice, so I often avoided getting involved in conversations. This technology gives me back a vital piece of myself that was missing. After hearing my voice through this new technology, I was blown away! For patients to know that they can still speak in their own voice after ALS takes it away will transform the way people live with this disease.”