# Voice booster for speech impediments?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-booster-for-speech-impediments/832572>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 15, 2019, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-booster-for-speech-impediments/832572 "2019-04-15T11:12:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-booster-for-speech-impediments/832572/1 "2019-04-15T11:12:17Z")

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My mother-in-law is 80 years old and is suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. One of the manifestations of this is that she only able to speak very softly. For the most part her enunciation is OK, but her volume is really low. It is especially hard to hear her when there is background noise like fans, air conditioners, traffic, etc (she lives in Delhi).

I am kind of frustrated that her doctor is not suggesting speech therapy, etc, but let’s put that aside for the moment.

What I wanted to ask is whether anyone can suggest any technology that we can use to boost her voice volume? I was thinking of a simple microphone and speaker arrangement, I guess like a bullhorn (I must be the only SIL in the world who would want his MIL to have a bullhorn 🙂 )

Or maybe some sort of app where she just speaks into her phone and it comes out louder?

Suggestions appreciated!

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**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-booster-for-speech-impediments/832572/2 "2019-04-15T14:46:52Z")

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I’m going to skip any issues re therapy, cost, and whether or not your MIL would actually USE something like this. There are several types of bluetooth headsets that are suitable for stage use, having low-profile microphones on a flexible boom. I would imagine that these could be linked to a BT speaker or (possibly) a phone or tablet.

I’m sorry, but I can’t be encouraging about her willingness to use something like this. Both of my late parents went through similar stages and they would have nothing to do with such things. Couldn’t even get my father to wear his hearing aids after the first couple days.

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**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-booster-for-speech-impediments/832572/3 "2019-04-18T11:57:49Z")

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I had a look online at a number of bluetooth microphone setups and found one or two that could do the job.

But does anyone know of any smart phone apps that do the same thing? It seems like it would be fairly straightforward, but all I could find are novelty apps that change your voice into some celebrity.

Likewise, what about something developed by the medical industry specifically for this purpose?