Soapbox Labs - speech recognition technology for kids
by Startacus Admin
The speech technology company Soapbox Labs, who are specializing in children’s speech recognition.
Learning to read is a hugely important part of developing as a child. Reading underpins everything, and those who are able to, must learn to read in order to reach their full potential as an adult, even if their dream is to be the world’s foremost beatboxer. A parent’s role in this is vital, of course, but children should be able to read whenever they want, whether there is a parent or teacher around to help them or not. 
While this additional challenge of not having someone to jump in and correct them on the hardest words can help them develop, sometimes they will simply find themselves stuck, without help. So wouldn’t it be good to have something that can give them that help when there isn’t a human around to do so?
Dublin-based startup Soapbox Labs has made that something possible.
Soapbox Labs builds speech recognition technology for children using deep neural network machine learning and a proprietary, real-world child speech dataset. Partners can integrate either their online or offline solution, both of which offer the same level of accuracy and performance.
This third-party platform will allow people to create apps like Noisy Book, allow children to control toys and games with 
their voices, give the aforementioned help with reading, and anything else developers can think of. Their proprietary speech recognition technology is accent-agnostic and works for children as young as 3! It can also be used in busy, real-world environments, like classrooms or a playground.
This month, founder and CEO Patricia Scanlon was named Digital Hero 2019 at The Spiders, Ireland’s longest running digital awards.
In the same month, Soapbox Labs was chosen by Florida State University’s FCRR (The Florida Center for Reading Research) for a $30 million project to boost children’s literacy rates. These achievements are not the first and they won’t be the last for Soapbox Labs, and we’ll be watching out for the next ones...
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
Thinking about investing in Bitcoin? Here are a few of the key things that you should consider before you start
Need to get your business in order? Here are a few business tools that will help you do just that
Thinking about starting a business during the pandemic? Here are some basic tips to help you do just that
Disease Screening and Diagnosis startup, Occuity has raised more than £1m, supported by Angel Investment Network
HeyPlants is a new online marketplace connecting garden enthusiasts directly with local sellers, garden centres and nurseries
Third-generation German shipowner turned venture capitalist, Christian Oldendorff, is one of the youngest leaders, recognised in The Thirty@30 Years list
Briiv is a Yorkshire-based startup that has created a new type of air purifier, inspired by nature and powered by Nanotechnology
.png)
The lowdown on the Liverpool-based Nova programme that is on the hunt for ambitious, early-stage founders and teams from throughout the UK to be part of its next cohort
We take a look at some basic tips on how social media has evolved and how small business owners can make it work to their advantage
If you're thinking about your business making the move to remote working on a permanent basis, these tips from other business owners will help
Published on: 24th November 2019
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- Nova seeking ambitious founders for its co-foundery programme 15th Oct 2020 The lowdown on the Liverpool-based Nova programme that is on the hunt for ambitious, early-stage founders and teams from throughout the UK to be part of its next cohort
- Impact of COVID-19 on female-led businesses 13th Oct 2020 Resilience and Recovery, a new report from The Female Founders Forum is released outlining the impact of COVID-19 on female-founded, equity-backed businesses
- Landscape - transparency for fundraising founders 13th Oct 2020 Landscape launches - the platform that’s bringing transparency to fundraising founders and is being described as the ‘Glassdoor for Venture Capital’
- Antler invests in 7 new UK tech startups 12th Oct 2020 The global early-stage venture capital firm Antler reveals that it has invested in 7 tech startups from its second UK cohort
