Spoken - Tap to Talk AAC

Spoken app allows those who are unable to speak using their voice freely the opportunity to join in conversations again with those around them using technology designed for living. Its target age is children, teenagers and adults who are unable to use their voice due to aphasia, nonverbal autism, stroke, ALS, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's and other speech and language disorders.

Spoken offers a free option to trial the app but to unlock its full features you need to purchase the full premium version for either a monthly or yearly subscription. The app is compatible with IOS 11 or later, MacOS 11 or later and Android devices. It is one of the recommended AAC app on Educational App Store.

What is Spoken app?

Spoken is an app designed to support children, teenagers and adults who are unable to communicate verbally, with a particular focus on those who have aphasia, nonverbal autism, Parkinson's, cerebral palsy, ALS, stroke or other speech-language disorders. 

Spoken offers a range of voices to choose from to personalise the voice of the users. 

It is very user-friendly as you can tap the screen to build sentences or phrases from a bank of words. Spoken offers users the ability to type, handwrite or draw what words they are wanting to add. Spoken then offers suggestions based on what the user has inputted. It allows the words to be spoken immediately or you can turn this feature off and when you have finished constructing your sentence or phrases then ask the app to speak the full sentence aloud. 

Spoken allows words and phrases to be saved by the user for easy access in the future to save continual repetition. The speech engine predicts the way users talk to allow for more complex emotions and varied vocabulary to be used, making the experience of the app more personal. Spoken offers users a range of naturally sounding voices to select to help make the experience of the app more personal. 

How much does Spoken app cost?

Spoken offers a free version. When using this version, the amount of words and phrases that can be saved and stored is limited. This would not help those who need it on a regular daily basis to fully utilise the app's features. Spoken's premium version costs £12.49 per month or £97.99 per year. The premium version offers complete access to all features of the app, allowing for personalisation and stored memory increasingly tailoring to each person's individual needs.    

Is Spoken app safe to use?

Spoken is very safe to use as it does not collect data or ask for any personal information. It does offer the feature of answering questions about yourself to help tailor the personalised phrases offered to you but none of this is shared outside the app. Spoken is free from advertisements even within the free version of the app. Spoken offers to change context based on your location, this is a choice and can be switched on and off. Spoken's privacy policy is easily accessible when going to download the app or through their website. 

What we love about Spoken app.

This review of Spoken used the premium version with all of its features unlocked allowing for the full experience of the app. The easy way to build sentences and phrases is a great advantage for users as they are immediately able to communicate verbally with those around them which is something they are not able to do. This allows users to be part of their community and share their voices again. The app is simply designed so there are no distractions for the main purpose of the app, making it extremely accessible to all. The use of pictorial images also allows a wider range of users to access the app. 

What skills does it teach?

Spoken is a supportive app to allow those who are unable to use their own voice a chance to speak freely in real-time with those around them. It offers users the chance to be able to fully participate in conversations in a variety of settings, including the classroom.  As you’ll see later in this review of Spoken it offers different features for different scenarios. 

What age is it appropriate for?

Spoken would be age appropriate for those who are able to read and write as the app needs the users to be able to do this for it to work. Spoken could be used with younger children as it does have pictorial support for words but this would make it harder to use if they were just using the picture function. Ideally, users would get the most out of this app if there are competent readers and writers. 

Is Spoken app easy to use?

Spoken is very easy to use and as soon as you open the app you are able to begin to use the software to communicate. To get the best out of the app you would need to purchase the premium version to have all features unlocked. It is free from distractions, clear, easy to read and is quick to navigate around. 

How will students benefit?

Students would benefit from this app as it will allow them to participate in real-time conversations with those around them when they are unable to use their voice. Whether that be parents, family, peers, teachers or other professionals. As the app is very easy to use and allows for quick communication it would be an ideal tool to have both at home and at school. Over time the app builds up knowledge on phrases and sentences allowing for even quicker replies or questions to be used. The feature of either typing, drawing or handwriting on the app makes it extremely user-friendly to create sentences and phrases to be spoken and will appeal to a wider range of students. 

How will parents benefit?

Parents would benefit from this app as it would allow their children to voice their thoughts and feelings verbally, making their communication easy and accessible to each other. In the settings, there is an option to choose from a bank of specific words for: Every day, eating, shopping, medical and school. This would help parents in different scenarios they would face on a daily basis and support better communication between parent and child. The only difficulty for some parents may be signing up and committing to monthly and yearly subscriptions rather than having a one-off payment plan. 

How will teachers benefit?

Teachers would benefit from Spoken because it would allow students to communicate easily with them, the app is quick and easy for the student to use which means a two-way conversation is possible making learning and feedback easier to establish within the classroom setting. This would enhance a student's experience with the teacher and allow for relationships to be built more freely. It would take away a level of frustration that would come from not being able to use your voice. 

Good to know

In the settings menu, there is a section which allows you to directly contact the developers where you can report any problems you experience, send suggestions to make the app better or even to just say hi! This is a really easy way for users to share their thoughts and have some input into the next updates the developers make to the app. 

Another feature it offers is to block words so in the settings function you are able to type in words that you would like blocked or not to appear as an option to use. 

Overall rating of the app.

I would give Spoken app an Educational App store rating of 4.5. The main reason is the cost of the app. as it may price some people out for long-term use because of the monthly/ yearly subscription element rather than offering a one-off purchase.