Scientists have created a new wearable device that may help stroke survivors speak again in a natural and fluent way. The device is called Revoice, and it works without surgery or brain implants.
Instead, it is worn gently around the neck like a soft choker, making it comfortable, flexible, and even washable.
A stroke can change a person’s life in many ways. One of the most painful effects is losing the ability to speak clearly. Around half of stroke survivors develop speech problems. One common condition is called dysarthria.
This happens when the muscles used for speaking become weak or uncoordinated. The brain still knows what it wants to say, but the signals that control the mouth, face, and throat are disrupted. As a result, speech can sound slurred, slow, or broken into short and unclear bursts.
For many people, this is extremely frustrating. They understand everything and can think normally, but they cannot express themselves. This can affect their independence, confidence, and even their relationships with family and caregivers.
Until now, most treatments focused on speech therapy. Patients repeat words over and over to train their muscles again. This helps some people, but daily conversation is still very hard. Other technologies also exist, but they are often slow and unnatural. Some systems require typing letter by letter.
Others rely on eye tracking or expensive brain implants, which are invasive and risky for patients who may recover speech over time.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge wanted to find a better and simpler solution. They designed Revoice as a wearable speech assistant that listens to tiny signals from the body.
The device contains very sensitive sensors that detect small vibrations from throat muscles when a person silently mouths words. It also measures heart rate, which helps estimate emotional state, such as stress or frustration.
These signals are then processed by artificial intelligence. One AI system figures out what words the person is trying to say based on throat movements. Another AI system looks at emotional clues and background information like time and environment. Together, they expand short and incomplete phrases into full and natural sentences.
For example, if a user silently mouths “We go hospital,” the device might produce: “Even though it’s getting late, I still feel uncomfortable. Can we go to the hospital now?” The system understands not only the words but also the feeling and situation behind them.
To test Revoice, the scientists ran a small study with five stroke patients who had dysarthria and ten healthy volunteers. Participants wore the device and mouthed short phrases. They could nod twice to allow the AI to expand their speech into full sentences. The results were impressive.
The device made very few mistakes, with a word error rate of just over four percent and sentence error below three percent. Patients also reported that they felt 55 percent more satisfied with their communication compared to before.
Revoice also has practical advantages. It is light, easy to wear, and uses very little power because the language model inside is small and efficient. The device does not need large machines or wires, making it suitable for daily life.
Although more testing is needed before it becomes widely available, this invention could be life-changing. Future versions may support multiple languages and recognize more emotional states. The goal is to make the device fully independent so users can rely on it anytime and anywhere.
Study review and analysis: This research shows that speech recovery technology does not always need to be invasive to be powerful. By combining body signals with smart AI, Revoice offers a safe and realistic way to help people who cannot speak clearly after a stroke. The study was small, so larger trials are needed to confirm the results.
Still, the very low error rates and high patient satisfaction suggest strong potential. If future studies succeed, Revoice could become an affordable and accessible tool that restores dignity, independence, and emotional connection for millions of stroke survivors.
If you care about stroke, please read studies about how to eat to prevent stroke, and diets high in flavonoids could help reduce stroke risk.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how Mediterranean diet could protect your brain health, and wild blueberries can benefit your heart and brain.
The study is published in Nature Communications.
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