SpeakEasy

A simple speech and communication aid for voice and mobility impaired people.

SpeakEasy is an easy to use Android speech app and communication aid (sometimes called AAC - Augmentative and Alternative Communication) for people who have difficulty communicating with voice. I wrote it for my Mum, who had Motor Neurone Disease (MND, also known in other parts of the world as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease).

When you type, it tries to match against previously spoken phrases, and enters anything spoken into the database, with a usage count. The more you use a phrase, the higher up it appears in the prediction list, meaning that frequently used phrases require fewer key strokes.

It has an intuitive, simple interface, but there are also some menu options and settings for things like auto clearing the text field, auto-starting at boot, Text-To-Speech (TTS) settings, changing the font size, removing a phrase from the database and so on.

It works best with a hardware keyboard (I used a Logitech Keys-To-Go) but a software keyboard should also work well. Hardware keyboards may be easier for someone with motor difficulties as there tends to be less 'dragging' across the keyboard, which can be a problem with touch screen keyboards.

I hope someone else finds it useful.

Although they were not involved in the production of this app, please consider donating to The Motor Neurone Disease Association, registered UK charity number 294354.