Little Bubbles of Noise
Meredith Fonseca, MA CCC-SLP
How SpeechVive came to be

Dr. Huber at Purdue University
began her research in 2005

She studied changes in the voice
and asked herself, “How would I
respond if my voice changed?”

Can’t we do better than this?
Traditional Speech Therapy
 The
speech therapist asks the
patient to change something such
as loudness or clarity
 The
speech therapist cues the
patient to make these changes
 Usually
works very well during
therapy, but being clearer and
louder at home is MUCH harder
Dr. Huber first studies how to
best cue people with PD
A
visual cue was used: patients
watched a decibel meter and
were told to target a number
 An
internal cue was used:
thinking about being louder
A
unique cue was used: the
Lombard effect.
The Lombard Effect is:
 When
people are in noisy
environments they
automatically speak louder
 When
people speak clearer
because they are in noise
 When
people change their rate
when speaking in noise
Why did the Lombard effect
work best?
 Because
 Because
it was an external cue
the patient was simply
responding to a reflex and not
relying on training or memory.
Dr Huber asks; What if I could
create a bubble of noise?
 It’s
 It
 It
there when you talk
stops when you stop talking
is with you outside of
therapy when you need it most
Engineers are smart
 Purdue
University engineers
made Dr. Huber her very first
portable bubble of noise.
 Then
they made her 40 more
which she used in a 3 year NIH
clinical trial
SpeechVive Study: Subject
Characteristics
Age: 67.67 years
 Time Since Diagnosis: 8.67 years

4 of these subjects had a deep-brain
stimulator
 1 of these subjects had undergone a
pallidotomy and thalamotomy



Pre-treatment speech severity: Moderate
14 participants had previous speech
therapy

Of those 14, 8 had LSVT previously
SpeechVive
•
Patients were fitted with a SpeechVive
device
• Intensity output of the SpeechVive set to
elicit an increase of 3-5 dB from
patients during conversation
•
Wore the device in communicative
contexts 2-8 hours/day, 7 days/week
• Included reading for 30 minutes per day,
5 days/week
•
SpeechViveTM intensity output was reset
every 2 weeks
SpeechVive: Results Summary
Patients and caregivers reported
improvements in communication
 90% patients improved loudness by
the end of treatment
 75% of patients improved in some
way (vocal intensity, rate, and
speech clarity) by the end of
treatment

SpeechVive Treatment

You must be assessed
by a trained speech
therapist

You must commit to
working with a speech
therapist for 6-8
sessions to get the full
benefit

You must be willing to
wear the device
Sample Comments about the
SpeechVive

People no longer spoke over me like I was not there

I got more respect from people because I could talk better

It was a reminder to speak louder

My wife said I pronounced words better, more clearly

My kids thought I had a good voice after using the device
Who can use SpeechVive?
People
with softer voices
People with changes in
rate
People with changes in
clarity
Who can’t use SpeechVive
 People
who can only
whisper
 People with 2 hearing aids
How much is it?

SpeechVive costs $2495

Payment plans of about $75/ month are
available

Insurance does not cover the cost of the
device

Insurance will likely cover the cost of
therapy

The VA will pay for it.
How do I get one?

You must be evaluated by a speech therapist to
determine if SpeechVive is the right therapy for you

Duke University Medical Center

Chapel Hill OP Rehab

Order it directly from our website

SpeechVive will send it to your speech therapist for
proper programming

Your therapist will fit you with the device during your
next appointment.
Questions?
References
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