Spire LightYou read sentences aloud in a room in Berlin, we record it, and you are paid by bank transfer once you have finished. The recordings go into technology that lets someone who has lost the ability to speak choose their words and hear them spoken aloud.
Spire Light runs three studies for two companies working on that technology. Two of them are the same sensor study, run in English and in German. The third is a separate voice study, in English.
The three studies
Start with the language you speak natively. If that is US or UK English, both English studies may be open to you.
A speech device says the words that someone types or chooses, and the voice it says them in has to be built first. Acapela Group builds those voices. Each one starts as hours of ordinary speech read aloud in a studio, so that what comes out of the device sounds human rather than robotic. The voice study is recording four American accents: California, Michigan, Colorado and Texas.
Altavo works further back. Their sensors sit outside the skin and pick up the muscle movement that goes with speaking, and the recordings let a machine learn how that movement lines up with the words being said. That is the groundwork for speech-assistive technology for people who have lost the ability to speak, and it is why the sensor study asks for two and a half hours twice over.
Neither project makes a copy of your voice. The sensor study will not use your voice to create a synthetic voice that sounds like you. Acapela builds new voices out of many speakers, and none of them is made to imitate or reproduce an individual. What happens to a recording differs between the two projects, and both are set out further down this page.
All three record at the same address in Berlin. Which one is open to you depends first on the language you speak natively, and then on where you live.
Who it is for
You are a native US or UK English speaker and can attend both appointments in Berlin
Your voice will not be cloned.
Für wen
Du bist deutsche:r Muttersprachler:in und kannst zu beiden Terminen nach Berlin kommen
The same study as the English one, run in German.
Deine Stimme wird nicht geklont.
Who it is for
You are a native US or UK English speaker and can attend the appointment in Berlin. US speakers must have a California, Michigan, Colorado or Texas accent.
Booking holds your slot. It does not confirm it.
After you book, you record a short voice sample from home. Acapela review it, usually within a few days, and you hear from us either way. If they confirm you, you sign a participant agreement before the session, and you keep a copy.
We are not making a copy of your voice.
The sensor study and the voice study are separate projects with separate bookings, and taking part in one does not rule you out of the other. Together they pay 200 EUR, which is 130 plus 70. Neither study discounts the other.
Both are open to native US and UK English speakers. The voice study adds one condition the sensor study does not have: US speakers need a California, Michigan, Colorado or Texas accent. Read its requirements before you count on the higher figure.
That is three appointments at the same address, two of 2.5 hours and one of about an hour, so about six hours of recording.
There is no combined booking form, so book them one at a time, in whichever order suits you. The voice study asks for a home voice sample and a signed agreement before the session, and Acapela usually take a few days over the sample, so start that one early if you want both.
Payment is by bank transfer, in euro, after you have recorded.
The 130 EUR covers both sensor sessions together.
It is not 130 EUR per appointment, and both appointments have to be completed before it is paid. The voice study works differently: one session, 70 EUR, paid afterwards. If you take part in both English studies, each one pays separately, 200 EUR in total.
The two projects use recordings for different purposes, so their promises are not the same. Each study page states its own in full, and you agree to them when you book.
We are not building a voice clone of you.
We are not making a copy of your voice.
Every appointment for all three studies is recorded at the same place. You pick your date and time on the study page itself, and you get a confirmation by email.
Datarade, Berlin
Mollstr. 32, 10249 Berlin, Germany
Spire Light is a Danish company. We handle participant recruitment and run the recording sessions on behalf of the companies whose technology is being developed.
Altavo develops speech-assistive technology for people who have lost the ability to speak, after illness, injury or surgery. The two sensor studies are theirs.
Acapela Group builds the voices used in speech-assistive devices, so that someone who has lost the ability to speak can choose their words and hear them spoken aloud. The voice study is theirs.
Emil·Responsible for the project
Write or call before you book if something here is unclear.
Altavo: altavo.eu·Acapela Group: acapela-group.com
The language you speak natively decides most of it. Native German speakers can book the German sensor study. Native US or UK English speakers can book the English sensor study, and the voice study as well if, for US speakers, they have one of the accents listed on that card.
No. Where you live is not a condition of any of the three studies. What matters is that you can come to Mollstr. 32 in Berlin for your appointments, since that is where the recording happens.
Yes, if US or UK English is your native language. The English sensor study has no accent requirement. It asks US speakers which dialect they speak, from a list of twenty-eight, and takes any of them.
The English sensor study and the voice study are separate projects, and you can do both if you qualify for both. The English and German sensor studies are the same project in two languages, so you take part in one of them, not both.
Each study page carries the full detail and the dates that are still open.