Compass is still being developed and is effectively in beta. Some content and features may be incomplete, change, or not work as expected.

Content is anchored to trusted sources where available, but Compass has not yet been clinically reviewed. It provides general information rather than medical advice.

Feedback helps us identify gaps, errors, usability problems and opportunities to improve Compass over time.

How Compass is developedGive feedback

Speech, swallowing and communication

Message banking

Recording whole phrases in your own voice, to be played back exactly as you said them.

What it means

Rather than building a synthetic voice, you record the things you actually say: a greeting, a joke, a way of saying goodnight. They are kept as recordings and played back later. It captures tone and delivery in a way a built voice cannot.

Why you might hear it

  • It is usually discussed at the same time as voice banking.
  • Families often find it the more personal of the two.

What it is not

Not the same as voice banking. Voice banking builds a voice that can say anything; message banking keeps particular things you said.

People who may help

Where Compass goes into this

About this explanation

These are plain explanations of words you may come across, not advice about your own situation. Where a word matters to a decision, the question pages go into it properly, and your own team is the place to take it.