Voice technology for kids with Dr. Patricia Scanlon

Dustin and Kane are joined by Patricia Scanlon, CEO SoapBox Labs, to discuss how its specialist speech technology for kids is being used and scaled across the globe to help kids learn to read and more.

In this episode: voice tech for kids

Imagine being able to have your child read to an iPad and have it tell them how they’re doing. Whether they’re pronouncing the words right and encouraging them to improve.

Imagine, as a parent or teacher, being able to report on different child’s progress so that you can focus on the real areas that need improving.

Well, this is what Soapbox Labs enables you to do with its specialist speech technology which you can use to build bespoke applications specifically for kids.

You might be wondering 'why would I need speech technology specifically for kids?' Well, kids have totally different voices to adults. Their pitch is higher, they don't always pronounce words properly and it changes across the ages. A 5 year old's voice is different to a 10 year old's voice. 

Most of the speech recognition systems you'll be familiar with are trained on adult voices and don't tend to work too well for kids voices. 

In this episode, we expand on this and more with a deep discussion on just why voice technology for kids is so important, how the solution was created, what makes it unique and how you can use it to create life changing applications that help kids all over the world learn and entertain themselves. 

We discuss use cases in education, such as learning to read or learning a new language, as well as leisure, such as speech recognition in toys.

After listening or watching this episode, you'll not only be equipped with the knowledge you need to create effective voice applications for kids, you'll also have a new appreciation for just how important this kind of technology is, what kind of opportunity exists in creation educational solutions for kids, but also just how important all of this is. 

About Patricia Scanlon

Patricia Scanlon is the founder and CEO of SoapBox Labs, the award winning voice tech for kids company. Patricia holds a PhD and has over 20 years experience working in speech recognition technology, including at Bell Labs and IBM.

Patricia has been granted 3 patents, with two pending. She is an acclaimed TEDx speaker, and in 2018 was named one of Forbes "Top 50 Women in Tech" globally.

In 2013, inspired by the needs of her oldest child, Patricia envisioned a speech technology to redefine how children acquire literacy. She has successfully raised multiple rounds of both public and private funding to bolster research and product development, and her technical approach has been independently validated by the world's top three academic authorities on speech recognition.

SoapBox Labs is based in Dublin and has a world class team of 22 employees.

Links

Get a free 90 trial of the SoapBox Labs API:

Visit soapboxlabs.com

Email hello@soapboxlabs.com

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