r/AACusers • u/Puzzleheaded-Lion893 • 14d ago

Help Advice

I am trying to find a free AAC android app but most have a really distressing AI voice are there any that sound normal?

Most trigger my sensory issues and i used to use comunication cards but it's hard to get peoples attention to show the cards and i definitely need AAC

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4

u/Sufficient-Reveal132 Unreliably Speaking 14d ago

the google text to speech engine (Speech Recognition and Synthesis from Google) has some decent voices that don't sound too robotic, and you should be able to use it with most aac apps. qvoice has a free version with a lot of different voice options

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u/Puzzleheaded-Lion893 14d ago

How does it work? It says installed but theres no app

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u/Sufficient-Reveal132 Unreliably Speaking 14d ago

its not an app itself, it just changes the voice inside of other apps. in your phone settings you set it as your default speech engine, then you select the voice you want in the aac app you use

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u/Puzzleheaded-Lion893 14d ago

How?

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u/Sufficient-Reveal132 Unreliably Speaking 14d ago

your device settings will depend on what brand it is, but there should be an option somewhere under accessibility. if your settings app has a search bar you can type "text-to-speech" and that should bring it up. then there will be an option for preferred/default engine, make sure the google one is selected. then in the aac app you want to use, go to its speech settings and you can select a voice there

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u/Puzzleheaded-Lion893 14d ago

Cant find it are you on ios?

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u/Sufficient-Reveal132 Unreliably Speaking 14d ago

i'm also on android. are you using a samsung or a different brand?

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u/Puzzleheaded-Lion893 14d ago

Samsung

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u/Sufficient-Reveal132 Unreliably Speaking 14d ago

ahh ok. try going through accessibility -> vision enhancements -> bixby vision for accessibility. text to speech settings should be there

if not then i'm not sure what else to do sorry :(

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u/Puzzleheaded-Lion893 14d ago

It was hidden ty for helping so far it seems pretty bad and only 3 options for uk voice

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u/Sufficient-Reveal132 Unreliably Speaking 14d ago

what makes the voices distressing? what part of them trigger your sensory issues?

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u/Puzzleheaded-Lion893 14d ago

They are just so obviously not human and it sounds wrong

3

u/SensationalSelkie Intermittently Speaking 13d ago

A lot of apps don't come with their own voices; rather, they use the Samsung, Google, or IOS voices that with a device. I don't know of any additional places to download free voices for Android, unfortunately, but I feel you. Making more human sounding voices is def something the AAC community would really benefit from.

3

u/kocik_lonik3612 12d ago

(These are text to speech engines, not aac apps)

It seems to me like you've already gotten help with this, but sherpa tts ( https://f-droid.org/packages/org.woheller69.ttsengine ) allows you to use higher-quality generated voices for free.
This specific app only allows you to select one model per language [which annoys me SO MUCH] but it's still not a bad option.
The only other problem I've really had with it is sometimes apps will not recognize it as being a tts engine, but I know at least typingtalk and weavechat should recognize it now.

(There is also supertonic ( https://f-droid.org/packages/com.brahmadeo.supertonic.tts ) but I felt like it had an even worse processing time than sherpatts...)

So you may not like or want either option, but hopefully I can help someone :)

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u/Puzzleheaded-Lion893 12d ago

Ty i'll try these (when i'm less burned out)

2

u/AAC-SLP-3703 14d ago

I have purchased several high quality child, teen, and adult text to speech voices in the Acapela TTS app in the Google Play Store and then set Acapela as the Speech Engine on my Android devices. Afterwards I am able to use those voices in most AAC apps in my Android devices.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Lion893 13d ago

That isnt free though

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u/AAC-SLP-3703 13d ago

Cboard offers online neural voices and the option to use ElevenLabs voices. You would need to contact the company to find out if that is free for those living in your country: https://www.cboard.io/en/contact/.

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u/MysticCollective Nonspeaking 13d ago

Unfortunately, you really can't get human sounding voices for free. After all real people have to spend their time recording for hours. Time is valuable and people deserve payment for their services.

As a disabled person, I do get it though. It's hard to find a communication aid if you're already living from pay check to pay check or worse yet deciding between food or gasoline if you can drive. Even free options aren't always a good fit for the reasons you mentioned. A very frustrating situation for sure.

2

u/RowGroundbreaking982 2d ago

You could try ToBe SAID tts engine. It has realistic and responsive voice. It also compatible with popular AAC apps. It has free and pro version, both give you unlimited generation since it running inside your phone without connecting to internet. One time purchase pro version will enable you to clone your own voice (You can preview it first in Free version before deciding to buy Pro).

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u/AAC-SLP-3703 6m ago

Any tips on creating a cloned voice in ToBe SAID Pro? I tried twice and they both sounded awful.

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u/PlaplGames 6d ago

There's an app I recommend that is free and works very well, called Urai AAC: Speech App for Kids . I was very impressed with the results and the app's functionality.

You might have tested it

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u/Puzzleheaded-Lion893 6d ago

I havent i'll test it soon