Voice Aid - any reviews/advice

[Plainswimmer]

Hello everyone. My dad is 86 and although only having been diagnosed officially with PSP in October ‘22, he has been displaying symptoms for a number of years. One of the first signs was his usually very loud, clear voice became more and more quiet and as the disease has progressed very rapidly in recent months, his voice is now nothing more than a whisper which we find extremely difficult to hear. It’s frustrating for us but so much more for him. We’ve found a device called Voice Aid that claims to amplify even the quietest voice. Just wondering if anyone on here has any knowledge of this (or similar) and has any advice or experience of using such a device.

Many thanks.

[Richard33]

Hi,

Ruth voice has got very quiet and we can no longer understand her. In earlier days the SALT did the LSVT vocal exercises to increase the volume. The problem is that as the volume declines so does the articulation - which means amplification will not work for Ruth. But every case is different with this disease. So good luck!

Richard 🙂

[Zerachiel]

Hi, my wife had an amplifier using a microphone which helped a little but also amplified the breath so it still wasn't easy to hear.

She then had a voice aid with the neck band to pick up vibrations from the Larynx, this worked for a short time but as her voice declined to a whisper it again became ineffective; a whisper is very often formed in the mouth so there is little or no vibration for it to pick up.

We still have the voice aid, if you are anywhere near Nottingham you may borrow it to give it a try to see if it works for you.

[Plainswimmer in reply to Zerachiel]

Thank you for the offer, we’re in Shropshire so not too far, but his voice has become a whisper and having since taken advice from his SaLT, she has said that it would be ineffective now.

Wishing you all the best

[easterncedar]

we did have good results from the Parkinson’s program LSVT Loud( and the PT LSVT Big), for what that’s worth. It slowed the inevitable, but had remarkable if temporary benefits, and I appreciated the extra time we gained with both. Some days we’d leave the speech therapist and have real conversations for a day or two.