Amid ALS battle, Pittsburgh man creates app to preserve his voice

A Pittsburgh man created an app to preserve his voice amid his diagnosis of ALS.The app is called “Talk To Me, Goose.””If anyone is a ‘Top Gun’ fan, it’s the very first line in the very first film,” David Betts said. “It’s what he says when he needs a little dose of courage, and I kind of thought I’m going to need a little dose of courage.”Betts, of Mount Washington, created the AI-powered text-to-speech app. It speaks back in your choice of dozens of voices, but the kicker is, it’s your actual voice.”To me, it’s really important to maintain as much of me as I am able, as this disease takes everything away from me,” he said.Betts was diagnosed with ALS two years ago. An avid bicyclist, he began to notice something was wrong.”I knew I was having trouble in September, a little bit of trouble, because I kept having trouble with my feet clipping into the pedals, which was strange,” Betts said.It wasn’t long after the diagnosis that Betts began to notice changes in his speech.”I kind of decided, now I have a whole series of problems I need to understand and figure out how to solve. The first one was my speech,” he said.That’s when he says he began looking for tools he already assumed were available to those who have limited speech. But what he found was disappointment.”They were still predominantly using what I found to be voice technology providers that sounded very robotic, and that’s what terrified me. I did not want to sound like a robot,” he said.The technology to make voice clones already existed, so he took it a step further, learning how to create an app and putting it all together.”I felt like I didn’t have anything to lose, like there was no downside,” Betts said. Talk To Me, Goose is used with an AI assistant called Merlin, which essentially closes the gap to help create text with little input.Once Betts began using the app for himself, he knew he needed to expand it.”If that was that easy, we have to make it available for everybody. How can we take this technology and reconnect people with their own voice?” Betts said. Talk To Me, Goose is available in the U.S. and Canada for free on iPhones and Androids. Betts hopes to expand it globally.ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. You can donate to the Live Like Lou Foundation and the app at livelikelou.org/goose.

PITTSBURGH —

A Pittsburgh man created an app to preserve his voice amid his diagnosis of ALS.

The app is called “Talk To Me, Goose.”

“If anyone is a ‘Top Gun’ fan, it’s the very first line in the very first film,” David Betts said. “It’s what he says when he needs a little dose of courage, and I kind of thought I’m going to need a little dose of courage.”

Betts, of Mount Washington, created the AI-powered text-to-speech app. It speaks back in your choice of dozens of voices, but the kicker is, it’s your actual voice.

“To me, it’s really important to maintain as much of me as I am able, as this disease takes everything away from me,” he said.

Betts was diagnosed with ALS two years ago. An avid bicyclist, he began to notice something was wrong.

“I knew I was having trouble in September, a little bit of trouble, because I kept having trouble with my feet clipping into the pedals, which was strange,” Betts said.

It wasn’t long after the diagnosis that Betts began to notice changes in his speech.

“I kind of decided, now I have a whole series of problems I need to understand and figure out how to solve. The first one was my speech,” he said.

That’s when he says he began looking for tools he already assumed were available to those who have limited speech. But what he found was disappointment.

“They were still predominantly using what I found to be voice technology providers that sounded very robotic, and that’s what terrified me. I did not want to sound like a robot,” he said.

The technology to make voice clones already existed, so he took it a step further, learning how to create an app and putting it all together.

“I felt like I didn’t have anything to lose, like there was no downside,” Betts said.

Talk To Me, Goose is used with an AI assistant called Merlin, which essentially closes the gap to help create text with little input.

Once Betts began using the app for himself, he knew he needed to expand it.

“If that was that easy, we have to make it available for everybody. How can we take this technology and reconnect people with their own voice?” Betts said.

Talk To Me, Goose is available in the U.S. and Canada for free on iPhones and Androids. Betts hopes to expand it globally.

ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. You can donate to the Live Like Lou Foundation and the app at livelikelou.org/goose.