India-made app turns impaired speech into clear speech in near-realtime Premium

An India-made app uses AI to transform impaired speech into clear communication, enhancing accessibility for individuals with speech disorders.

A whisper. A few slurred words. For those who suffer from dysarthria, a motor speech disorder, basic communication is a challenge, indelibly affecting both their professional and personal life. But now a new innovation based on artificial intelligence (AI) and developed in India could be life-changing.

Led by associate professor Vineet Gandhi of the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad, a team has developed a simple app that can help people talk as an audio translation converts the speaker’s voice almost in real-time. The app can either convert slurred speech into clear, natural-sounding speech or use a camera to analyse lip movements and subtle throat vibrations to generate intelligible speech.

While the current project runs in English, the team’s next aim is to take these technologies to regional languages, including Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil, as many across the country do not have the means to benefit from accessibility-focused AI models. For this work, Mr. Gandhi won the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) award in 2026.

Excerpts from an interview:

What inspired you to begin work on this humanitarian AI project?

My research has always been driven by a simple question: what real problem can technology help solve?