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Speech difficulty/Alexa - looking for solution

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KenMahler

Speech difficulty/Alexa - looking for solution
« on: February 08, 2018, 01:20:40 pm »
Greetings,
This is an update to my earlier post, “Speech difficulty with mobility constraint”. I have setup an Echo device for my cousin, who has MS. She’s is unable to move at all, but is able to speak, albeit weekly. She can be understood, but her speech patterns are somtimes broken - that is, there are sometimes pauses in her speech. Nevertheless, Alexa is able ounderstand her usually. Early on in this process, we had problems getting the echo to understand aand respond, which was hugely frustrating. But because Alexa  is able to learn, her accuracy in responding to voice commands has greatly improved. This allows my cousin now make phone calls, listen to Music, Audio books, and a few othet things she could not do before. She tells me Alexa has been life-changing because of that. She could do none of that before.

I initially had been looking at using a voice amplifier, which was a suggestion from this forum. We did try one, with no success. I had assumed that boosting the volume of her voice and positioning the amplifier next to the Echo would solve the problem, but it didn’t, as I said. It seems the problem is not so much the volume of her voice, but the strength/timbre of it that makes Alexa incapable of understanding the commands. That problem did partially resolve itself thanks to Alexa being able to learn from it’s mistakes.

I recently setup the Logitek Harmony Hub, and related skill in the Alexa app. My cousin can now control her TV, which is great, but has caused another issue. The TV’s volume makes it impossible for Alexa to respond to my cousin’s voice.

I want to try using an amplifier again. Perhaps, Alexa has “learned” her voice enough by now, and we’ll have better success. Does anyone know of a Bluetooth Mic that works with Alexa? I’m open to all suggestions.

Thanks in advance for your help!