This message banking tutorial will explain what it is, who it’s for, and how to do it. It complements the voice banking tutorial.
If you’re someone who is at risk of losing their voice, you may be interested in learning how to save a digital copy of your voice. And if you’re a speech-language pathologist (SLP), you’ll likely work with people who could benefit from message banking.
Free DIRECT download: Message banking tutorial (patient handout). (Email subscribers get free access to all the resources in the Free Subscription Library.)
As with my last post, this post was inspired by an ATiA 2019 presentation by John Costello and Meghan O’Brien on “Speech Synthesis, Voice/Message Banking: PAST, CURRENT, and FUTURE trends.” John and Meghan are both SLPs at Boston Children’s Hospital. John is the director of the Augmentative Communication Services.
Outline:
- So, what is message banking?
- Who is message banking for?
- What are the benefits of message banking?
- What are the drawbacks of message banking?
- Do I have to choose between voice banking or message banking?
- What equipment do I need?
- How do I bank messages?
- Tips for recording.
- How do I use the banked messages?
- Related Eat, Speak, & Think posts.
- Please share this tutorial!
So, what is message banking?
Message banking allows you or your patient to communicate with your real voice after losing the ability to speak. The process involves recording specific words, phrases, and sentences to be played back “as-is” during future conversations using a speech-generating device (SGD).
In the 1990s, John Costello started the first message banking program at Boston Children’s Hospital to provide children with the ability to communicate with their own voice via a communication device. Later, John and his team created a message banking program for people with ALS. Now, anyone can bank messages.
Check out this real-life example:
Who is message banking for?
Message banking is for anyone who may be at risk for losing their voice due to disease or a planned medical procedure. It can be used whether the loss of voice would be temporary or permanent. Message banking can be used by children or adults.
Although anyone can choose to bank messages as insurance against a future injury or disease, people who have any of the following should consider if message banking is right for them.
- Progressive neurological disorder, for example:
- ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease).
- Parkinson’s disease.
- Primary progressive aphasia.
- Huntington’s disease.
- Progressive cerebellar ataxia.
- Multiple sclerosis.
- Head and neck cancer treatment involving surgical removal of tongue or larynx.
- Planned medical procedures requiring intubation or a ventilator.
If you or your patient has a severe speech impairment, you could ask a family member or friend who sounds like you to do the recordings for you.
What are the benefits of message banking?
Message banking captures your true voice
Since these recordings are used as-is, they fully capture your voice with all of its expressiveness and personality. Your voice is such an intimate part of who you are, and message banking allows you to retain and express that self-identity.
Bank as few or as many messages as you’d like
You can choose to record as few or as many words, phrases, and sentences as you’d like. Even if a person only banks a handful of commonly-said messages, they can be used often in everyday conversation.
There’s no charge at any point in the process
Using the message banking program developed by John Costello’s team at Boston Children’s Hospital and Tobii Dynavox is completely free! There’s no charge for using the message banking system, storing your messages, or downloading your messages.
You can use a large set of banked messages to create a synthesized voice
Another huge positive is that it’s now possible to use the .wav files recorded for messaging banking to create a synthetic voice through Acapela’s My Own Voice.
John Costello called this process “double-dipping”, and it means a person can do the work of message banking and use that set of files for voice banking with minimal extra work. This works best when the person recording has the support of someone experienced in the process.
What are the drawbacks of message banking?
Recording messages takes longer than voice banking
First, message banking takes much longer than voice banking. No one tells you what to record. Since you have to think up each word, phrase, and sentence, it takes much longer to record.
Why you shouldn’t read from a script for message banking
Although Boston Children’s Hospital shares a long list of messages that other people have chosen to bank, John Costello clearly states that we shouldn’t read from the script to create our own banked messages.
The whole point of message banking is to capture your personality: what you like to talk about, the specific words you tend to use, and your unique way of saying them.
Reading other people’s lists wouldn’t capture the essence of your personality and style. This means that you should keep the recorder close to you and as you go through your day, repeat anything you say that you’d like to capture. You can always re-record later in a quiet setting, if necessary.
Message banking takes more steps than voice banking
There are several extra steps compared to voice banking. The .wav files have to be uploaded to the message banking program, where IBM Watson will automatically transcribe each file. Then you have to listen to each recording and make sure the accompanying text is accurate. Finally, you have to tag each file with one or more categories before downloading to add to your communication device.
Most people need more assistance to complete message banking
Someone who is experienced in this area but prefers to remain anonymous told me that people seem to have far more success with voice banking than with message banking.
And the main reason for that appears to be the lack of support from a knowledgeable professional such as an SLP. When a person has support, they are much more likely to finish the message banking process, no matter how few or how many messages they want to bank.
An SLP can provide valuable assistance by helping the person to obtain the clearest speech possible, to learn how to record throughout the day to capture real language, and encouragement and motivation to continue with the process.
“Double dipping” banked messages for voice banking takes even longer
It’s even more important for someone to have support if they want to use those banked messages to create a synthetic voice. While message banking doesn’t have a lower limit to the number of recordings needed, using those messages to create a synthetic voice does.
To create a synthetic voice using banked messages, you’d need a bare minimum of 350 good quality recordings. But you may have to record many more to obtain a decent synthetic voice.
Do I have to choose between voice banking and message banking?
You can choose to do neither, either, or both. If you’re at risk for losing the ability to speak clearly enough to be understood, you have a number of options for the voice that a speech-generating device (SGD) uses.
- Don’t record anything and simply use a standard synthetic voice that comes with the SGD.
- Create a synthesized version of your voice ahead of time via voice banking.
- Supplement #1 or #2 with words, phrases, and sentences spoken in your true voice via message banking.
- Record a large number of messages to bank and use those recordings to create a synthesized version of your voice.
If you’re unable to make any recordings, or choose to put your energy into some other area of your life, you’ll be able to communicate with a generic synthetic voice. It won’t sound like you, but you’ll still be able to communicate.
The fastest and easiest way to get a synthetic voice is to go through the voice banking process. The synthesized voice likely will sound reasonably like you, but there won’t be any nuance for emotion or personality.
Either way, you can record messages that will be added to your SGD “as-is” via message banking. This allows you to say at least some things in your natural voice.
Finally, you can choose to record a large number of messages and use these to create a synthetic voice, without having to go through the voice banking process. Then you’ll have that large inventory of messages that will be played “as-is” via your SGD, and you’ll have a synthetic voice that sounds reasonably like you to use for any new things you might want to say.
What equipment do I need?
You’ll need a computer with internet access, as well as a hand-held voice recorder. You should use a good-quality voice recorder that outputs .wav files. The message banking team recommends using the Zoom H1 recorder*.
*This is an Amazon affiliate link. As an Amazon associate, I may earn a small commission on qualifying purchases. There is no extra charge to you, and it will help keep Eat, Speak, & Think sustainable.
Organizations such as Team Gleason may lend a high-quality voice recorder to qualified individuals.
How do I bank messages?
You can access the free message banking program through two websites: the program’s website at myMessageBanking.com or through Tobii Dynavox’s website.
- Record your messages.
- Create a myTobiiDynavox.com or myMessageBanking.com account and log in.
- Upload your .wav files to your account.
- Click on “View my messages”.
- Play each message and check that the printed text matches what you said. Make any corrections.
- Select one or more tags to help organize your messages. (Not too many tags!)
- When you’re ready, download the files into a .zip file.
- Import your messages into your AAC device.
You don’t have to record your messages all at once. You can record a small batch of messages and go through steps 3 – 6 above as often as you’d like, so it doesn’t seem too overwhelming.
Tips for recording
Experiment with your recorder to get the best sound quality. You can try holding it in different positions or try out different settings.
You can cut down on distortions from certain speech sounds and from wind by using a windscreen or pop filter. For instance, see this example with the Zoom H1 recorder.
Keep your voice recorder with you. That way, whenever you say something you’d like to capture, you can quickly record it before you forget. You’ll also be more likely to use a natural-sounding voice if you record close in time to when you actually said the word, phrase, or sentence.
If there’s background noise, you can always record it again later in a quiet setting. First listen to your original recording to hear the way you said it. Then record it again using the same intonation and emotion.
How do I use the banked messages?
Add to a communication device or app
The transcribed and tagged message files are compatible with a number of AAC devices and at least some iPad AAC apps. I wasn’t able to find a comprehensive list, but I’d recommend checking with the company of the device or app you want to use.
The Tobii Dynavox Communicator 5 software (version 5.3 or higher) will allow you to easily import and use your stored messages. Follow the directions starting on page 4 of this message banking guide. (message banking getting started PDF) Your recorded messages will automatically be stored in “My Phrases”, organized by category according to your tags.
Create a synthetic voice
After you’ve run your recordings through the free message banking system, checked the transcription, and tagged them, you can upload the resulting files to your My Own Voice account at Acapela. It’s free to synthesize and listen to your voice. But there is a charge to download it to use. The current cost is either $99 or $999, depending on which technology they can use to create a voice from your files.
Although current technology doesn’t allow for natural-sounding synthetic voices, your synthetic voice would sound more like you than a generic synthetic voice. The benefit is that you can use your communication device to “speak” any words, phrases, or sentences you can think of and it will be “spoken” in a voice similar to your real voice.
And of course, you can use your device to directly “speak” all of those banked messages you created, with all of the emotion and personality that you captured in your recordings.
Related Eat, Speak, & Think posts
- ALS guide for speech-language pathologists.
- Voice banking tutorial: Acapela and ModelTalker.
- Easy voice banking with The Voice Keeper.
- How to do AAC evaluations in the home.
- Free-low-tech AAC for adults.
Please share this tutorial!
Losing the ability to speak must be devastating, but having the ability to “say” at least some messages in your own true voice must bring some relief.
Message banking isn’t difficult once you understand the process. But for someone facing life-changing illness or planned medical procedure, it’s easy to see how it could be overwhelming.
Please share this tutorial with other SLPs or people who may be interested.
Free DIRECT download: Message banking tutorial (patient handout). (Email subscribers get free access to all the resources in the Free Subscription Library.)
Lisa earned her M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Maryland, College Park and her M.A. in Linguistics from the University of California, San Diego.
She participated in research studies with the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) and the University of Maryland in the areas of aphasia, Parkinson’s Disease, epilepsy, and fluency disorders.
Lisa has been working as a medical speech-language pathologist since 2008. She has a strong passion for evidence-based assessment and therapy, having earned five ASHA Awards for Professional Participation in Continuing Education.
She launched EatSpeakThink.com in June 2018 to help other clinicians be more successful working in home health, as well as to provide strategies and resources to people living with problems eating, speaking, or thinking.
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