Thomas is a biomedical engineering student at Polytechnique Montréal whose family is closely touched by ALS. Within his field of study, he saw an opportunity to help improve the daily lives of people living with the disease. This personal experience led him to start a company with the goal of developing a solution to address communication needs he had witnessed firsthand.
He later met David, a software engineering graduate from Concordia University who was looking for a new challenge. Drawn to the human dimension of the project, David decided to join him. Together, the two young entrepreneurs brought Vocality to life, a communication app designed for people experiencing significant speech loss.
“There was a meaningful mission behind the project, and I felt that we could really make a difference,” says David.
ALS at the heart of Vocality: A personal experience inspiring more adapted technology
In 2021, ALS profoundly changed Thomas’s family when two of his relatives, from different sides of the family, were diagnosed. This incurable and fatal neurodegenerative disease progressively affects mobility and the ability to speak, eat and, eventually, breathe.
As Thomas’s two relatives lost the ability to speak, they had to turn to communication tools. Witnessing their challenges and frustrations firsthand, Thomas was particularly struck by the barriers they continued to face when they simply wanted to connect with others. Some tools, which could be slow or complex to use, seemed to get in the way of natural, spontaneous conversations.
He was convinced there had to be a better way.
Preserving natural conversation through AI
When every message requires considerable effort, a person may find themselves limiting communication to essential needs, shortening their sentences or leaving certain thoughts unexpressed. Yet losing the ability to speak does not mean losing one’s voice. Communication is about sharing thoughts, telling stories, making people laugh, reacting spontaneously, and continuing to be yourself in conversation.
Using artificial intelligence and language models, Vocality aims to reduce that effort by anticipating what a person wants to say and offering shortcuts, helping them continue to make their voice heard. For David, seeing how people respond when they discover the tool makes all the work worthwhile:
“Seeing people’s enthusiasm when we show them the solution and they realize what it could enable them to do tells us that our work is making an impact.”
Developing communication technology directly with the ALS community
While Thomas and David have the technical expertise to develop the app, they recognize that they are not the experts when it comes to the day-to-day realities of living with ALS.
“We have the skills to build the technology, but the people who truly know what they need are those affected by ALS and the professionals who support them,” explains Thomas.
That is why they surrounded themselves with speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists and people living with ALS, whose lived experiences guide the development of the communication tool. ALS Quebec has also helped facilitate this collaboration by connecting the entrepreneurs with members of the community interested in testing the app.
For Thomas, what stands out most from the experience is the strength of the relationships they have built: “Technology gives us hope, yes, but so do the relationships we’ve built.” It is a collaborative approach he would like to see applied to other challenges as well.
Listening, observing and adapting to each person’s experience with ALS
Through these interactions, Thomas and David take the time to observe and listen to users. They have come to understand that no two experiences with ALS are the same: motor abilities and the ways people interact with a device can vary considerably from one person to another.
These insights directly shape Vocality, which continues to evolve into a highly customizable tool that is easier to use and, above all, enables each person to communicate in a way that feels true to who they are.
A true source of inspiration for ALS Quebec
For ALS Quebec, Thomas and David’s journey is a true source of inspiration. What began with a life-changing experience in Thomas’s family sparked a desire to take action, strengthened by David’s expertise and the collaboration of an entire community.
This is precisely the kind of initiative we are proud to see grow within our community: one led by emerging young talent and deeply rooted in listening to and learning from the people directly touched.
You are living with ALS and interested in learning more about communication tools that could help you in your daily life?
Don’t hesitate to discuss them with your care team, who can help guide you toward solutions that meet your needs. Our support and guidance counsellors are also available to provide information about available resources and answer your questions about ALS: info@sla-quebec.ca | 514-725-2653, ext. 105 | 1-877-725-7725, ext. 105.