Re: Hello from VocaliD

I volunteered some time ago and finally things seem to be underway. Thought this might be of interest.

On Apr 29, 2015, at 3:44 PM, donotreply@vocalid.co wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> Thank you for your interest in VocaliD. We haven’t forgotten about you.
> 
> Redux - Who are we?
> 
> Many of you learned about VocaliD from my TED Talk. It all began with the realization that millions of people who rely on computerized voices to communicate have access to only a handful of generic options, yet many of them have unique vocal identities that could - and should - be harnessed. We wouldn’t dream of fitting a little girl with the prosthetic limb of a grown man: why, then, the same prosthetic voice? Through scientific and technological advances we developed techniques to craft unique vocal identities by blending several hours of donor speech with as little as a vowel sound from the recipient.
> 
> What have we been up to?
> 
> At the time of the TED Talk, VocaliD was a research project; we couldn’t have predicted the overwhelming response we received from voice donors, recipients and ambassadors all over the world. Within months we had 4,000, then 10,000, and now over 25,000 supporters who have pledged to give the gift of voice. We also had more recipients sign up than we could handle.
> 
> So in May 2014 we formed VocaliD Inc., a socially motivated company aimed at designing custom-crafted voices – and we haven’t stopped working ever since. Highlights include being selected as a finalist in the MassChallenge accelerator program to help us understand how to bring this innovation to market; launching The Human Voicebank Initiative to gather the largest and most diverse repository of speech from everyday talkers; and receiving research funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes on Health (NIH) to help us further our efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of creating personalized voices at minimal cost.
> 
> Our world-class, dedicated team is committed to bringing VocaliD™ voices to market by 2016. In the meantime, we are gathering donor voices through our virtual voicebank recording platform (www.VocaliD.co/voicebank), investing in continued research and development, and raising funds to support our commercialization efforts.
> 
> What’s next and how can you get involved?
> 
> You are an essential part of our solution, and without you we can’t hope to change the status quo of uniform, manufactured voices.
> 
> If you signed up to be a voice donor, please visit our virtual recording studio to begin banking your voice today www.VocaliD.co/voicebank. Many of you indicated that you had expertise to share and for that we are also grateful. To help us better understand how to engage you in our efforts, please visit us atwww.VocaliD.co and click on Get Involved
> 
> where you can choose one or more of the following roles:
> Voice Donor – To bank your voice for others or for your own use
> Voice Recipient – If you or someone you know is interested in a personalized VocaliD™ voice
> Ambassador – To join our extended team and help make this a reality
> General inquiry – Stay tuned and support us from the sidelines
> 
> The next stop on our journey?
> 
> In the coming weeks you will be hearing a lot more from us as we gear up to kick off VoiceDrives across Canada and the US, increase awareness about the need for personalized voices, and launch an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.
> 
> We can’t do this alone! Get involved to help amplify our mission.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Rupal Patel
> Founder | VocaliD
> 
>   
> www.VocaliD.co  |  hello@VocaliD.co 
>