Using our “Voices for Good”!

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I often share about using my “voice for good” which means, besides being a female voiceover artist for hire, I love helping charities and projects I’m passionate about, by donating my voice. It gives me the chance to take my passion for “Giving Great Voice” and combine that with the ability to inspire and share about a cause or organization I believe in and voice that passion.

So you can imagine how excited I was to find out about Vocal Id which is an organization dedicated to giving a “Voice to the Voiceless”, through cutting edge technology.

Professer Rupal Patel came up with the concept of helping the millions of people who are speech challenged, receive  their own unique voice print rather than the five or six that are currently offered, most notabley the “Steven Hawking voice” She eloquently shares her ideas in a brilliant Ted Talk.

I was blown away that there were so many people with speech disabilities as well as the idea that there were so few choices to having a unique voice print. While I have always loved using my voice, I must admit, I’ve always taken for granted that I  had a voice to use.

She woke me up as I’m sure many other people to the challenges faced by people with vocal disabilities and also presented me a great opportunity to do something about it.

This moving Huff post article beautifully shows the impact of this “life changing” program to a young woman who get’s to hear her “voice” for the first time!

 

I’m in the middle of recording the sentences right now and I’ve made a short video ” in the closet” to show you how easy it is to do.

They also have a great tutorial that explains it step by step.

The other really cool thing is that this opportunity to “give great voice” is not limited to voiceover acting, but to anyone wanting to help that has access to a computer and a microphone. It’s a rare opportunity for anyone who has wanted  to do voiceovers, to have some training and hands on practice, and at the same time do a meaningful service. It’s also a wonderful opportunity for all of us who are privileged enough to make a living at our wonderful craft of voiceover to give back.

They also have all kinds of volunteer opportunities to help “get the word out.”

I hope you’ll join me in helping Vocal ID fulfill their mission of giving a unique voice print to those in need. Here’s to using our voices, and our “Voiceovers” for good!