The future is voice-first, but not for everyone. Because of unique speech patterns, voice technology doesn’t always understand people with Down Syndrome. Project Understood is ensuring the future of voice technology includes people with Down Syndrome. The Canadian Down Syndrome Society is working with Google to collect voice samples from the adult Down Syndrome community to create a database that can help train Google’s technology to understand people with Down Syndrome better. The more voice samples we have, the more likely Google will be able to improve speech recognition for everyone eventually.

The Technology
Voice interfaces have now been sold in millions of products ranging from smartphones to vehicles, to home devices. These systems offer endless possibilities for enhanced living. But as it currently stands, the technology is not optimized for use by people who would benefit from it the most: people with disabilities. Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) can greatly improve the ability of those with speech impairments to interact with everyday smart devices and facilitate more independent living. However, these systems have predominantly been trained in ‘typical speech.’ But not all human speech is the same.

The unique speech patterns of people with Down Syndrome make it difficult for voice technologies to understand them. This is due to a massive lack of training data. The Canadian Down Syndrome Society, along with Google’s Project Euphonia are setting out to make speech technology more accessible to those with disabilities by recording the voices of thousands of participants with Down Syndrome to help train and improve its technology.

By reading and recording simple phrases, we can help Google recognize your unique speech patterns to improve Google’s system. Your voice recordings will be used for research, and to ultimately improve the accuracy of speech recognition for people with Down Syndrome. With your help, we can create a world where people with Down Syndrome are better understood. visit https://projectunderstood.ca/

Credits
Advertising Agency: FCB, Canada
Chief Creative Officer: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna & Jeff Hilts
President: Bryan Kane
Associate Creative Director: Elma Karabegovic
Associate Creative Director: Michael Morelli
Associate Creative Director: Marty Hoefkes
Copywriter: Shannon McCarroll
Copywriter: Jason Soy
VP, Managing Director: Tracy Little
Group Account Director: Blake Connolly
Account Supervisor: Olivia Selbie
Agency Producer/s: Sarah Michener/Kristine Lippett
VP of Operations: Shandi Horovitch
Project Manager: Cori Pettit
Chief Strategy Officer: Shelley Brown
Director of Strategy: Eryn LeMesurier
Director of Strategy: Shelagh Hartford
Strategy Coordinator: Audrey Zink
Director, Product and Technology Solutions: John Sime
EVP, Head of Global Innovation: Kris Hoet
PR: Shannon Stephaniuk, Glossy
Production Company: Radar
Director: Scott Drucker
Line Producer: Sarah Michener
Director of Photography: Scott Drucker & Chet Tilokani
Camera Operator: Scott Drucker & Chet Tilokani
Audio: Nicolas Field
Hair & Make-Up: Neil Silverman
Photographer: Cassidy Clemmer
Editing House: Outsider Editorial
Editor: John Gallagher/Michael Barker
Editorial Assistant: Scott Edwards
Executive Producer: Kristina Anzlinger
Transfer Facility: Alter Ego
Colourist: Eric Whipp
Online Facility: Alter Ego
VFX Artist: Eric Perrella
Alter Ego Producer: Caitlin Schooley-Groneveldt
Music House: Grayson Matthews
Music Track Director: Mark Dominic
Engineer: Vlad Nikolic
Audio Producer: Kelly McCluskey
Speech Pathologist: Amanda Cotton
Website design: Kris Van Wallendael, Julie Post, Dao Tran / Bliss Interactive

Tags:
Donate Your Voice, Canada, Public Interest, NGO, Canadian Down Syndrome Society, FCB, Google AI, Project Understood, Technology, Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, Innovation, Automatic Speech Recognition, Google Assistant