SpeakEasy
Gamified speech therapy through interactive challenges
Speak Easy is an all-in-one game designed to support individuals who stutter by providing engaging and interactive activities to practice speaking. At the same time, Speak Easy helps improve speech technologies by collecting valuable data to enhance speech recognition and fluency support. Our mission is to empower users with confidence in their speech while contributing to the future of inclusive communication technology.
PROBLEM
Challenge
Design a mobile app that empowers individuals who stutter to practice speaking confidently in a supportive and low-pressure environment. The app should also encourage voluntary data contribution for more inclusive AI speech technologies, with a focus on user consent, transparency, and clarity around dataset use. You may incorporate elements like gamification, progress tracking, or personalized goals to make the experience engaging and user-driven. This lead us to the question:
How might we empower individuals who stutter to practice speaking confidently in a supportive environment while contributing to more inclusive speech recognition technologies?
GOALS
Context
Over 70 million people stutter globally, yet most speech technologies fail to serve them, because they're trained only on fluent speech.
Current speech technologies, such as automated phone menus or computer-generated captions, often fail to work well for people who stutter due to training on fluent speech. To make these speech technologies more responsive and accessible for people who stutter, it is important to collect more diverse stuttered speech data to improve these technologies.
Concept
Speak Easy reimagines classic games like Scattergories, Wavelength, and Brainteasers as interactive tools for practicing speech. Instead of drills that feel clinical or repetitive, users are invited into playful challenges where they describe, guess, and respond out loud—just like they would in a group game night.
By blending the fun of category prompts, scale-based guessing, and puzzle-style thinking with structured voice practice, peak Easy lowers the pressure of speaking while keeping users engaged. Each round encourages natural, spontaneous speech, while also generating valuable data to train more inclusive speech recognition systems. The result is a game that builds confidence, feels rewarding in the moment, and contributes to better communication technology for everyone.
Pillars
Intentionality
We aimed to create an engaging and enjoyable app while also leveraging speech data to help individuals who stutter. This would contribute to improving data collection and speech technologies.
Accessibility
We sought to implement as many inclusive features as possible to make the app enjoyable for everyone. In particular, we designed functions to support individuals who stutter, ensuring they feel included and considered throughout the design process.
Readability
Our goal was to maintain a clean and readable interface while also incorporating vibrant and inviting design elements to appeal to users of all ages and demographics.
Inclusivity
We wanted to ensure that people of all ages and backgrounds could have a great experience. To achieve this, we incorporated a variety of options to accommodate different preferences and needs.
Our UI brought the goals to life: intentional design made practice engaging and purposeful, accessibility ensured support for users who stutter, readability kept the interface clean yet vibrant, and inclusivity offered options for all ages and needs. The result was a polished design that embodied our mission of providing options to accommodate different preferences and needs.
Transparency and User Consent
We ensured users knew precisely where their data was going and how their voice recordings would be used. Based on interviews, transparency emerged as the key expectation, so we treated it as a non-negotiable top priority.
REFLECTIONS
Final Thoughts
Winning second place was exciting, but what really stood out was how naturally our team clicked. Even on our first project together, ideas flowed easily and everyone brought something unique to the table. I left not just proud of what we built, but genuinely excited to collaborate with them again in the future.
FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS
- Prioritize fuller speech samples (phrases and sentences, not just single words) to help the models learn faster. Add game modes that prompt longer responses (mini-stories, sentence chains, guided prompts).
- Update scoring to reward clarity and complexity, not just speed or accuracy.