Jim Maxwell, from Edinburgh, who is living with motor neuron disease (MND) recorded and banked his voice for the future thanks to funding from MND Scotland.

People with MND can lose the ability to speak, meaning they may need to use a communications aid, for example eye-gaze technology or a text-to-speech app, to communicate with the ones they love.

SpeakUnique, an Edinburgh based start-up, gives people with MND, and anyone one else who needs it, the opportunity to create a personalised synthetic voice for use on a device later should they need it, enabling the person to communicate with a voice that sounds like their own.

Thanks to the support of our amazing donors and fundraisers, MND Scotland provides people living with MND with funding to record their voice and Jim is one of the people to recently benefit from this service.

Speaking about why banking his voice matters to him, Jim said: “It’s really important to me that I do bank my voice so I can still feel seen, still be me and that I can keep my natural voice, that my daughters understand and recognise.

“When I’m actually gone, my girls can actually still go on to that app and listen to my voice, so I might be gone but I’ll still be there for them.” 

Jim was recently featured on the technology show, BBC Click, as he read the innovative e-book, ‘I Will Always Be Me’ to record and bank his voice.

‘I Will Always Be Me’ is an interactive storybook by Intel and Dell Technologies, created in partnership with Rolls Royce, the MND Association and SpeakUnique.

The e-book is written from the perspective of someone living with MND, explaining to their loved ones about the condition and their experience with the disease.

Upon finishing the story, the recording is uploaded and transformed into a digital voice by SpeakUnique within 24 hours, which can then be used with communication devices when needed.

Julie Macdonald, Head of Fundraising at MND Scotland, said: “We are here to make time count for people living with motor neuron disease, so they can spend their time creating precious memories with the ones they love. Because of our incredible supporters, we can continue to be a helping hand of support for individuals and families, and can give people like Jim their voice.”

Watch the full segment on BBC Click featuring Jim here or visit SpeakUnique for more information on the voice banking process.

You can help us to support more people like Jim by donating here, or to get involved in other ways find out more here.