Revoice Wearable Device Uses AI to Help Stroke Survivors Speak

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a wearable device designed to assist stroke survivors with speech impairments. The device, called Revoice, was tested in a small trial and the findings were published in January 2026.

Dysarthria, a condition that affects nearly half of all stroke survivors, impairs the muscles used for speech and often results in slurred or fragmented speech. The Revoice device aims to address these challenges by capturing muscle vibrations and pulse signals from the throat to reconstruct spoken words in real time.

The Revoice system is built as a soft, flexible choker that can be washed and worn comfortably. It incorporates ultra-sensitive textile strain sensors along with a wireless circuit board to collect and transmit data for speech reconstruction.

Two artificial intelligence agents are integrated into the system. One agent reconstructs words from silently mouthed speech, while the other interprets emotional and contextual cues to generate expressive sentences from brief phrases.

What the numbers show

• The device was tested with five stroke survivors with dysarthria
• Word error rate in the trial was about 4.2%
• Sentence error rate was approximately 2.9%
• Participants reported a 55% increase in communication satisfaction
• Findings were published on January 19, 2026

The trial involved a small group of five participants who had experienced a stroke and were living with dysarthria. During the trial, the device demonstrated a word error rate of roughly 4.2 percent and a sentence error rate of about 2.9 percent.

Participants in the study reported a notable increase in satisfaction with their ability to communicate when using the Revoice device. According to the published results, communication satisfaction rose by 55 percent among those who used the system.

The research team stated that they plan to conduct larger clinical trials involving native English-speaking individuals with dysarthria. They also aim to expand the system to support multiple languages and a wider range of emotional expressions in speech reconstruction.

The results of the initial trial and the technical details of the Revoice device were published in the journal Nature Communications on January 19, 2026. The device represents an approach that combines wearable technology and artificial intelligence to support communication for people affected by speech impairments following a stroke.

* This article is based on publicly available information at the time of writing.