What does the fee cover?
When will I be charged for my voice?
What methods of payment are accepted?
What if I create a voice and I don’t want to use it?
What if I can’t afford to pay for my voice?
I am not affected by ALS/MND or other speech disorder and want to donate my voice for others who cannot do voice banking. Must I also pay a fee?
I am a clinician who works with ALS/MND patients and want to make a voice to learn about the technology and demonstrate what ModelTalker voices sound like to my patients. Must I pay a fee to do this?
How much will my voice cost?
You will be charged $100 USD. This fee is based on our average costs in staff time, computer, and internet resources to create a voice.
What does the fee cover?
Once the fee is paid, you may download as many copies of your voice as you need for different operating systems and devices. At present, voices remain available for up to 18 months before they are removed from our server. After about 18 months, we may still be able to provide a copy of your voice at little or no cost if you have given us permission to retain your speech samples for use in our research.
When will I be charged for my voice?
You must pay for your voice before you can download it. You do not need to pay anything to register, or do the speech recording. After you have finished your recordings, we will create preliminary copies of your voice to audition. The audition process has two purposes. First, it will tell us which versions of your voice sound best to you. Second, it will give you an opportunity to decide whether you wish to purchase your voice for download. If you do wish to purchase the voice, payment will be expected.
What methods of payment are accepted?
Our bank is able to accept online payment via most major credit cards. At this time, the only other method of payment that we can accept is payment by a support organization that has agreed to pay for your voice. See What if I can’t afford to pay for my voice? for more information.
What if I create a voice and don’t want to use it?
After auditioning your voice, you can decide that you do not want the voice. If you tell us you do not want the voice, you will not be charged for the voice.
What if I can’t afford to pay for my voice?
We are doing all we can to keep voice costs as low as possible. Our parent organization is a non-profit pediatric health care organization and we do not operate this service for profit. Still, we know that for some people, $100 USD may represent a financial hardship. For that reason, we are working to connect with support groups and charitable organizations who may be able to offer financial assistance for voice banking. When our fee for service policy goes live, we will also introduce a new feature that will allow users to apply directly to support groups via our website if they are truly in need of assistance with the cost. If you know of a support organization not presently registered with us, please ask them to reach out and establish a relationship.
I am not affected by ALS/MND or other speech disorder and want to donate my voice for others who cannot do voice banking. Must I also pay a fee?
We want to encourage voice donors, especially those with new or rare dialects to donate a voice for others to use. So we do not charge donors for creating a voice and permit a free download of one copy of their synthetic voice for use on a single device. Note that requirements regarding audio hardware and recording environment may be more stringent for donors and the user agreement for donated voices provides us greater freedom in the way that we may decide to use the donated speech.
I am a clinician who works with ALS/MND patients and want to make a voice to learn about the technology and demonstrate what ModelTalker voices sound like to my patients. Must I pay a fee to do this?
No, you will not be charged to create or download a voice. We consider clinicians to be our partners in providing voice banking services and in advising patients regarding whether voice banking is a viable option for them. The technology may not be a great fit for everyone! If you are a clinician working with ALS/MND or other patients, you know them much better than we do so your informed advice to them is crucial. We are happy to do all we can to help you understand the technology and it’s limitations so that you and your clients can make informed decisions regarding the suitability of voice banking. Just be sure to register with us as a clinician so we know that you are not someone doing voice banking.