Speech practice for adults with dysarthria.

A'ber is a speech practice companion: investigational software for guided speech practice at home. The exercises cover articulation, voice, breathing, intonation, stress, speaking rate and loudness. It is not a medical device and is not a replacement for care from a speech-language pathologist.

How A'ber works

A'ber starts with a short set of recordings that sets a starting practice level. It is a starting point for practice and nothing more. Every recording then goes through recording-quality checks first; when a recording is too noisy, clipped or too short, A'ber asks for a retake instead of commenting on your speech.

Sessions are short: a warm up, then three to five exercises. A'ber tracks your practice: speaking rate, how long you can hold a sound, pitch range and syllable repetition speed, compared with your own earlier sessions on the same phone. Recordings from a different phone are kept separately and are not compared. Exercise difficulty adapts to how your practice attempts go.

Who A'ber is for

A'ber is built for adults whose speech has changed, for example with Parkinson's disease or after a stroke, and for the speech language pathologists (SLPs) they work with. On the patient side it turns daily practice into a ten minute routine at home. If you work with a speech-language pathologist, they can see your practice. How much clinician time that saves has not been measured, so no figure is quoted for it.

What A'ber is built on

The exercise design follows the motor learning literature: richer feedback early in a new skill and faded summary feedback later. The signal processing was verified on synthetic and public research recordings; it is not clinically validated. If you notice changes in your speech, talk to a healthcare professional.

How A'ber differs from general speech apps

General purpose speech apps often cover many areas in one product. A'ber focuses on practice for motor speech, with recording-quality checks before any feedback. For people already working with an SLP on a programme such as LSVT LOUD, A'ber supports practice between visits. It is not a substitute for that programme or for the clinician running it.