icSpeech develops and supplies speech visualisation instrumentation for researchers, clinicians, and educators worldwide. Founded in the historic city of Canterbury, UK, the company draws on nearly 40 years of expertise in speech technology. Our products are used by universities, hospitals, and specialist schools in over 70 countries worldwide. In 2025, our equipment was used aboard the International Space Station as part of Axiom Space's Voice in Space programme.
Our story
In 1987, a local dental surgeon approached the Medical Electronics Research Laboratory at the University of Kent, seeking a way to objectively measure the effects of fitting palatal lift prostheses. This led to the development of the Nasal-Oral Ratiometry System (NORS), an instrument that detected nasal and oral airflow during speech and the direct precursor to icSpeech's anemometry system today.
Dr. Paul Sharp worked as a biomedical engineer in the NHS before joining the laboratory in 1997 to undertake his doctorate, completing a PhD entitled "An Instrument for the Multiparameter Assessment of Speech" in 2000. He subsequently worked as an engineer in the machine listening group at Canon Research Centre Europe, before moving to IBM as the European Solutions Architect for embedded speech recognition.
In 2009, Dr. Sharp founded Rose Medical Solutions Ltd and established icSpeech as the company's speech visualisation division. The University of Kent remains a collaborating institution.
Our customers
Today our products are used in over 70 countries, spanning six continents. Find out more or get in touch.