Hear how people are using Visual Voice Pro
Here are news reports about people using Visual Voice Pro in their sensory rooms in the UK and the USA.
Sensory center turns music into visuals.
25 May 2007 [Source]
A multi-sensory room has been developed that could change the way people study aspects of music, writes Miles O'Leary.The room, recently opened at Plymouth Music Zone, will allow people with hearing difficulties to experience rhythm in music through colour and images.
Glyn Fuge, Special Needs Co-ordinator at Plymouth Music Zone, said: "The room has been designed so that if someone plays an instrument, the sound will be transferred as visual shapes and patterns on the walls. You are also able to change the mood of the room to relax or stimulate your senses depending on the volume of the instrument played."
The sensory room, made possible through a lottery grant of £50,000 on ITV's 'People's Millions' programme last November, will be targeted at people of all ages and abilities.
Music project for disabled children
03 May 2007 [Source]
A groundbreaking music project is being launched today in Plymouth. Plymouth Music Zone, based in Devonport, is launching the Sensation Music Station using lottery cash.
The room is designed to help disabled children to explore music in a 'magical interactive environment' - using special sound equipment.
Shh, just listen to the colours
1 March 2007 [source]
by Carly Chynoweth
In the Sixties and Seventies, people who wanted to see fairies jump out from behind trees or experience sparkling showers of light as they walked through a mystical forest had fairly limited options: hallucinogens or a very active imagination.
These days it's just a matter of shouting or clapping your hands, thanks to the work of Adam Montandon and his colleagues at HMCinteractive, a business that blends art, science and technology to create, well, all sorts of things.
His present project, developed in conjunction with speech therapists links sound and vision, by using noise to change what appears on a giant display. "It's for children with speech and language difficulties. We use a high-powered mike and special technology so that as people make noise it's translated on to a projector. It allows people with speech impairments to see what effect their voice has." For example, children viewing a woodland scene can scare fairies out from behind the trees by shouting. "We want to make sure that there’s an element of magic to it," he says. "We’re not interested in making a fortune. It’s about doing things that are interesting and stimulating."
Stimulating Environment
Bridgeport center uses technology to help people with special needs [Source]
Danny Freeman's speech is usually lightning-quick, his words often blending together, and sometimes making him difficult to understand.
The 19-year-old Trumbull boy has pervasive developmental disorder, one of a group of conditions known as autism spectrum disorders, developmental disabilities that can cause impairments in communication, social interaction and other skills.
Freeman's condition has led to, among other things, difficulty with speech and language. But in the past few months, his language skills have improved. He even gave a speech at his cousin's recent wedding — something his mother, Marjorie Freeman, said her son never could have done before.
And to think he owes a lot of his progress to some bouncing balls and a few colored lights.
Danny Freeman is a regular client at the Montano Center for Assistive Technology in Bridgeport, which opened last October. The center is run by Phoebe Tucker, a speech and language pathologist with nearly 30 years experience working with the special needs community.
Montano Assistive Technology Center
by Mary Ann A. and Katy H. [Source]
My daughter Katy is a 30 year old woman with severe Apraxia due to autism. She has been working with Phoebe Tucker at the Montano Center since August, 2006. When Katy started this summer her communication was by handwriting or pointing to letters on a keyboard while her hand was being held. This was very limiting for her since she only had a couple of people who were successful in helping her with this method of expression. She longed for independence and often felt depressed and fearful because of her concern for the future if she did not have someone who could help her communicate.
To help develop her speech, she has been using specialized software that creates visual feedback in the form of colored circles which she can see as an outcome of her own speech. She has had a notable increase in using words in the past 2 weeks that we feel is directly related to work with this program. She also has started using descriptors rather than a single word. Last week she verbally requested “meditation tape” when before she would only say “tape”. There is much more spontaneous and un-cued speech.
Many people are telling me of things they have heard her say that have been meaningful communication. There have been simple conversations with several people who have never had that experience before with Katy
We worked with Phoebe Tucker at the Montano Center, and her brilliant ideas became part of the Visual Voice Pro software.
Helping those with developmental challenges
16 Nov 2006 [Source]
by News Channel 8's Jocelyn Maminta
A state of the art interactive center in Bridgeport is designed for people with developmental challenges. Some of the technology is one of a kind.
With voice activated fiber optics and specialized software, the Montano Assistive Technology Center in Bridgeport uses an interactive environment to help unlock the minds of people with a number of disabilities.
"We are treating the whole child or the whole adult," said director Phoebe Tucker, who designed this one of a kind center. "Through technology they are able to focus," she said.
Five-year old Tyrone Jones who has developmental delays has shown remarkable progress since coming here. "Most times Tyrone only spoke in simple sentences, at the most I'd say maybe three words," his mother Elizabeth Jones said. "Now he is able to stretch it out and to express some things."
30-year old Katy Haigh, who is autistic, can now speak more clearly. "Her speech at home is a lot more spontaneous," mom Mary Ann Austin said. "People are telling me that they can understand what she's saying now." That's mostly due to voice activated technology that projects sound waves when someone speaks. "Talking is a very abstract activity, but when they can see the effect -- they talk that's a cause -- and then the effect is what happens there with the wave," Tucker said. And what happens here empowers those who come here to live a life with fewer limitations.
The multi-sensory technology center is designed to help a number of people including those with autism and cerebral palsy. But it can also benefit people in the mainstream who perhaps are looking to sharpen language and academic skills. The center is operated by the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Southern Connecticut.
