Elara and iTherapy Develop InnerVoice Unreal, a Speech Training Tool

Elara Systems and iTherapy have created InnerVoice Unreal, a speech-based communication training tool for children with autism.

InnerVoice Unreal was designed as a mobile application dedicated to improving the quality of life for people who struggle with communication challenges. Through this tool, users can tap emojis and type out text to make 3D characters speak the selected words and emote back to them, helping to develop valuable communication skills. Customizable 3D animated avatars replicate human emotions, facial expressions, and speech movements.

Elara's engineers also integrated Amazon's cloud computing into Unreal Engine 4, giving them access to the latest in modulated voice-synthesis technology.

When bringing the characters to life, Elara's animators had to pay close attention to how the face and mouth move as each new sound is formed. Referred to as visemes, these distinct shapes are the key behind comprehensive lip reading. The visemes were paired to the phonetic enunciation of each character's speech. Animators also had to ensure that the characters depict an extensive range of emotions, which could then be blended into the visemes.

Elara Systems also made great use of the Unreal Engine platform by Epic Games to provide optimized visuals on the mobile-friendly application.