5 Apps to Help with Speech Problems

According to the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders, over 17 million adults report having issues with their voice each year. Additionally, nearly 1/12 of children over the age of three have experienced a disorder related to voice, speech, language, or swallowing. If you or a loved one has trouble with speech, you're probably looking for support. Luckily, there are many apps available to help! In this article, we'll be covering five of our top recommendations.

Our Top 5 Recommendations

1. Spoken - Tap to Talk AAC

Spoken AAC app, shown on a smartphone and tablet.

Availability: Android, iOS, and Mac
Price: Free (with optional premium upgrade for $12.99/month, $99.99/year, or $249.99 for life)

Spoken - Tap to Talk AAC (sometimes just called Spoken AAC) is an app that gives people who can't speak an alternative method of communication. You can tap on intelligent word suggestions, type, handwrite, or even draw to enter text. Spoken can understand all of these inputs and convert them into speech at the tap of a button! The more you use the app, the better it will get at predicting what you want to say, making communication easier and faster.

The simple, refined design of Spoken makes communication easy. It's quick to figure it out and there's no set up required. Even without tech experience, you should be able to get started talking with Spoken right away.

2. Constant Therapy: Brain Rehab

Price: $29.99/month
Availability: iOS and Android

Constant Therapy: Brain Rehab is a research-backed cognitive, language, and speech therapy app designed to help people recovering from neurological conditions that can affect speech, like aphasia. There are quite a few brain strengthening/rehab apps available, but Constant Therapy primarily focuses on improving speech. Users can choose from over 500,000 activities tailored to their specific situations.

We like Constant Therapy because the efficacy of the app is supported by peer-reviewed studies. This app is one of the more expensive ones on the list, but the evidence-backed exercises and easy-to-use interface make it well worth the price.

3. Leeloo AAC

Leeloo AAC for tablet, advertised as an AAC app for kids with autism.

Availability: Android and iOS
Price: Free (with optional premium upgrade for $6.99/month, $59.99/year, or $99.99 for life)

Leeloo is another app that can assist with communication. Whereas we recommend Spoken AAC for teens and adults, Leeloo our recommendation for younger users. Since it has a limited vocabulary, we don't sugget it for advanced communicators. However, it's a great choice for children in need of communication support. It offers vocabulary that's relevant to kids and has an engaging design with fun illustrations. Plus, it's really simple to use. Overall, it's a great place for beginning communicators to get started if they need help with speech.

4. Articulation Station Hive

Price: Free (with optional premium upgrade for $14.99/month or $119.99/year)
Availability: iOS and Mac

Articulation Station Hive is an app specifically designed to help users improve speech articulation. The activities in the app focus on different areas including syllables, words, phrases, stories, and conversations. Speech-language pathologists and other clinicians can view summaries of sessions and graphs of student performance, write or view notes, and share users' progress with caregivers.

Articulation Station Hive can technically be used by language learners of all ages, but the design and themes are more suitable for younger users. Still, it's a polished app that can be genuinely helpful to the right user.

5. Language Therapy 4-in-1

A folder with all eight apps included in the Tactus Aphasia Essentials bundle: Comprehension, Naming, Reading, Writing, Advanced Comprehension, Advanced Naming, Advanced Reading, and Advanced Writing.

Availability: iOS and Android
Price: $74.99

Language Therapy 4-in-1 is a research-backed app that focuses on rehabilitating communication skills for people with acquired speech and language disorders, similar to Constant Therapy. As the name implies, this app is actually four packed into one, with each focusing on a different skill to improve (including comprehension, naming, reading, and writing). These exercises can strengthen your abilities and potentially help you get back to communicating normally.

Each of the apps in Language Therapy 4-in-1 are available separately if you don't need them all. There are also advanced versions once you "graduate" from the first four apps.