Cumbrian man with motor neurone disease helps launch book which preserves your voice
A Cumbrian man living with motor neurone disease has helped to launch the world's first e-book which preserves voices.
I Will Always Be Me is written from the perspective of someone living with MND explaining to their loved ones about the condition and their experience with the disease.
Alan Towart, who lives in Ulverston and has MND himself, helped trial the story book which banks voices as the story is read.
He said: "When I was first pointed towards voice banking, it was a lot of hard work, to the point where I actually gave up.
"I seemed to be spending so much time sat recording a load of random sayings and syllables - nothing that meant anything really."
Around eight in 10 people living with MND will experience communication difficulties.
Alan trialled I Will Always Be Me in his home with his wife, Dawn, and daughter, Sophia, while the book was in development.
He said: "The book is an amazing legacy, it just means leaving something everlasting. It's never going to go away."
The short story authored by New York Times bestseller Jill Twiss, takes less than half an hour to read and is designed to be an alternative option to a traditional voice banking process, which can take many hours of reading random words and phrases to produce a computerised version of a voice.
When finished reading, the recording is uploaded and transformed into a digital voice by SpeakUnique which can then be used with communication devices.
The MND Association will provide funding for people with MND living in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to take part in the e-book, after donations from Dell Technologies and Intel.
Nick Goldup, Director of Care Improvement at the MND Association said: "Voice banking is incredibly important for someone diagnosed with MND, but traditionally it could be extremely time-consuming, laborious and often a very lonely process for the person taking part.
"We wanted to change that and so we are incredibly proud that I Will Always Be Me is a completely different experience.
"People with MND have been at the heart of this project from the very start so it was important for us to develop something that was easy to use, engaging, and offer the opportunity to become a long-lasting, treasured resource."