Speech-generating device

Also called SGD, VOCA, Voice output communication aid, Talker, Communication device

Any device that says the words out loud. Called an SGD, a VOCA, a talker or a communication aid, and the person's voice in every case.

What it is

A speech-generating device is any communication aid that produces speech. The older UK term is VOCA, voice output communication aid; American writing says SGD; children and families often say "talker" or just "the device". They all mean the same thing: something the person operates that talks.

The category runs from a single-message button with a recorded voice to a tablet app with a full vocabulary and an eye-gaze camera. What they share is that the person can be heard without a partner voicing for them.

Who it can help

Anyone who needs to speak to people who won't or can't read a board: strangers, people across a room, people on the phone, a class of thirty. Children who need to be heard in a playground; adults who need to be heard in a meeting; anyone in hospital who needs to call a nurse.

A device is not automatically better than paper. It needs charging, setting up, mounting, protecting and maintaining, and a person who has nobody to do that is often better served by a communication book. The honest question is not "does this person deserve a device" (they do) but "who will keep it working".

How it works

The person selects words, symbols or letters through their access method, the message gathers on a sentence strip, and text-to-speech speaks it. Voice is synthetic (chosen from what the device offers, with speed and pitch adjustable), recorded (someone speaks each message into the device), or banked (the person's own voice, captured while they still had it; see voice banking).

Devices split into dedicated machines built and sold for AAC and ordinary tablets running an app; and into static and dynamic displays. What the device can say depends on its page set, not on the hardware.

Getting started

Turn the phone in your pocket into one. The Talk board is a free speech-generating app that runs in the browser, works offline once loaded and speaks with the voices already on the device. Add it to the Home Screen and it behaves like any other app.

If the person needs more, ask for a device loan before anyone buys anything. Two weeks with a real device, in the person's real life, is worth more than any catalogue.

Name the person who will charge it, and where it will be mounted. Both should be decided before the device arrives.

Where to get help

The NHS route is a speech and language therapist, and for people with complex needs a regional specialised AAC service, which provides devices free in England, commissioned by NHS England. Communication Matters lists every UK supplier and runs a conference where devices can be tried side by side. ACE Centre gives independent advice on which device suits which need, and charities like The Sequal Trust help fund equipment the NHS won't.