Respira

Respira, now BeneTalk is a wearable device that monitors and gives real-time feedback on breathing, speech and pitch patterns to help people who stutter to gain fluency.

BeneTalk, a project of Respira Ldt, is a wearable device that acts as digital coach for people who stutter. It monitors and gives real-time feedback on breathing, speech and pitch patterns to help people who stutter to gain fluency.

People who stutter (PWS) live in constant fear and anxiety, unsure of when they may stutter and in what situation.

Although there are no proven theories to fully explain the reasons behind chronic stuttering, there are many proven psychological and cognitive practices that can help PWS gain fluency. These practices include breathing properly with the diaphragm, speaking only a few (3 to 5) words per breath, and acceptance of oneself as PWS. Respira helps PWS to acquire these habits using a single wearable device which will remind the user in real time whether he /is using these new habits correctly or not.

With the rise of the IoT and wearable technologies, we are not only able to reinforce new breathing habits in speakers, but can also record their physiological and voice data. This, in turn, will provide real-time valuable information to the user (in order to improve his /her quality of life) and science (in order to understand the mechanisms of chronic stuttering).

Our first prototype can be seen in action in www. benetalk.com

The system is no substitute for the hard work that any PWS must do to overcome his /her condition, but rather a ‘digital speech therapist and coach’ to reminds them what is important during the day.

BeneTalk’s ultimate goal is to apply profound artificial intelligence (AI) learning techniques to encourage users to learn the difference between ‘good stuttering’ and ‘bad stuttering’ (one of the most powerful techniques for PWS is delivery disfluency, where the user stutters on purpose to helps him /her control their speech).

BeneTalk is the first hardware product of its kind. Its main innovation is to integrate the latest research on stuttering into an affordable device that could improve the lives of 70 million people.

We believe that new technologies should be used it to help people. We would need your support to help the 1% of population who stutter to live a better life!