Jordanian start-up’s anti-stuttering device helps combat speech impediment

AMMAN — A Jordanian company is helping people combat stuttering with a new wearable device.

TakalamTech is a health-tech company specialising in finding solutions for hearing and speech disorders using artificial intelligence and software programming, according to the company’s website.

Its anti-stuttering device helps reduce stuttering by 90 per cent, according to TakalamTech CEO Abdallah Al Faris.

Faris said he thought of the project as a college student in 2018.

“A friend of mine dealt with the challenge of being a person who stutters,” said Faris. 

Faris and two partners manage the company and its team of seven employees. 

The company’s anti-stuttering device consists of a wearable card-sized device connected to an in-ear mini-speaker, similar in appearance to a hearing aid. 

It is developed to emulate the“choral effect” phenomenon, in which one’s stutter improves in a group setting, Faris told The Jordan Times.

Faris said that although the anti-stuttering device is the only one the company currently produces, plans for others are in the works.

According to Faris, more than 70 million people worldwide stutter, of which almost 3 million are in the MENA region.