PDVoice Buddy
BETA
PDVoice Buddy
BETA
Use it or lose it!
Parkinson's quietens the voice without the speaker noticing. PDVoice Buddy gives you one simple signal: a glowing dot that stays bright while your voice is carrying above the noise in the room, and dims when it fades. No exercises, no scores, nothing to read mid-sentence — just a light in the corner of your eye.
Currently Android and Windows only. English and Spanish.
Most people with Parkinson's have been told they're speaking too quietly. The difficult part is that it doesn't feel that way. The voice drops gradually, and the internal sense of "normal volume" drops with it — so you're speaking what feels like an ordinary sentence while the room hears a murmur. Being told to repeat yourself, over and over, wears people down until they simply say less.
PDVoice Buddy is an attempt at the smallest useful tool for that problem — a signal that's always there, and never says anything.
The dot only lights up when your voice clears two things at once. Whichever one is higher, wins.
The app tracks the noise around you continuously. Move from a quiet kitchen to a busy restaurant, and it adjusts within a couple of seconds — you don't touch anything.
Roughly 60–70 dB, so a silent room can't be fooled by a whisper. The goal isn't just to be heard — it's to practice speaking at a normal, healthy volume.
Nothing is ever recorded. Your voice becomes a loudness number many times a second, then it's thrown away immediately. Nothing is stored. Nothing is sent anywhere. The app doesn't need an internet connection to run.
It's free, it's a prototype, and it's still early — this has been used by one person, on one tablet. What we need now is people willing to try it for a week, especially somewhere noisy, and tell us what's wrong with it. Unflattering feedback is the most useful kind.
Free. No account, nothing to sign up for.
Not in the Play Store yet, so installing takes a couple of extra taps — Android will warn you three times along the way. None of the warnings mean anything is wrong.
One file, no installer. Save it somewhere you'll find it again, double-click it, and allow the microphone when it's asked for. Nothing is ever recorded.
Written in plain language. It covers the two things people get wrong first: where to put the device, and which sensitivity step to start on.
First thing to do
Open Settings and press "Measure the room." Sit where you normally sit and stay quiet for five seconds — that's the whole setup.
Every release, including the things we tried and changed back.
Does it record me?
No. It measures how loud the room is and discards the sound instantly. There's no recording made, so there's none to lose.
Do I need to speak into it?
No. Put it on a table nearby and talk normally to whoever you're with.
Does it work in noisy places?
That's what it's designed for — it measures your voice against the room, not a fixed number. It's also the least-tested part, which is why we want testers.
Will it nag me?
It never makes a sound and never sends a notification about your voice. It's a light. You can ignore it.
Does it cost anything?
No, and it won't.
Is it a medical device?
No. It's a homemade tool for encouragement. Set the level with your speech therapist if you have one.