About us

Our mission is to make your life with Whispp a little easier and more fun!

Why are we doing it?

Whispp founder Joris Castermans stutters himself and Whispp finds its origin in the fact that when stuttering people whisper, they are relaxed and can speak (almost) fluently. We then learned that Whispp is also valuable for people with voice disorders who need a boost for their voice.

Our vision. The next generation of Whispp.

The first version of Whispp acts as a smart speech amplifier. Soft, hoarse and whispering voices are made audible.

Developments will take some time, but with the future version of Whispp you will be able to speak with a natural sounding voice!

The next version will be able to convert whispered speech into a natural voice without delay with the intonation and emotion you intended.

The team behind Whispp

Whispp is a Dutch startup. We believe it is important to work in an ethically and scientifically based manner. That is why we work together with the following (academic) partners.

Joris Castermans - CEO

Originally an industrial designer, I worked as an innovation consultant, business developer and alliance manager in IT and telecom. Based on my own experience of stuttering and interest in technology I founded Whispp. Worldwide 10 million people stutter severely or suffer from a voice disorder. This often has a major impact on their lives. Therefore it is my mission to enable these people to speak freely and empower them in their daily lives and work.

Alex Stratu - iOS Developer

I am an iOS developer, and I strive to provide the best user experience for mobile users. With my previous expertise in advertising, I have a passion for the design process and the user interface. I keep my work and personal life in balance, so when I’m not coding, I like to go on long bike rides, play the guitar and spend time in the kitchen with my wife.

Ravi Shankar Prasad - Speech Signal Researcher & Developer

I have a PhD in speech signal processing and have worked in the field of speech analysis and assessment of speech pathology. I am interested in designing techniques that can further help improve speech intelligibility of affected speech. In my free time I enjoy my music and my camera.

Erik Minhas - Full Stack Software Developer

I studied Software Engineering in the United Kingdom and worked in the British fintech industry. In my previous role I learned about accessibility and since then I have really cared about making technology accessible to people from all walks of life. At Whispp I work as a full-stack software engineer, developing both the backend systems and the Android app. In my spare time I love photographing and reading about world affairs.

Yrsa Niels - Marketeer

I’m a student speech language pathology and I enjoy learning about technical devices that can improve people’s lives. At Whispp I’m responsible for keeping up with the social media and writing articles for the website. Here I can combine my interest in speech language pathology and artificial intelligence with my joy in writing. To be able to contribute to helping people with speech problems gives it even more added value.

Akash Raj - AI Researcher & Developer

I studied Electrical and Computer science Engineering at BITS Pilani, India. After starting my career as a software engineer, I quickly realized my interest in machine learning. Juggling both software developement and AI research, I like the challenges that Whispp offers and the opportunity to learn new things. Since a few years, I’ve taken up dancing salsa and playing cello as my hobbies.

Elise van Wijngaarden - AI Researcher & Developer

I am studying Computer Science at Leiden University with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence. I am 23 years old and I like sports, making music and playing games. At Whispp I do research into improving the conversion from whisper to speech. Specifically, I try to make the result sound more natural. I find it a great challenge to do research at Whispp and it gives me a good feeling that people are being helped with it.

Tatsu Matsushima - AI Researcher & Developer

I am Tatsu from Japan. I studied Voice Technology for my master’s degree, where I explored all aspects of deep learning for speech. My motivation behind working in this field is to empower the lives of people with disabilities in communication. Therefore, working at Whispp is really exciting. As voice conversion for whisper speech is technically challenging, it brings a lot of fun to my work.

Thom Leenman - Software Engineer

I am a student software engineer, hopefully I can replace the student title with graduated by next year. I keep myself busy with a big variety of tasks within Whispp, for example comparing the quality of Whispp to the current competitors, testing the mobile app and comparing different hardware combinations. In my free time I enjoy hanging around with friends and doing stuff like making funny yet useless projects, or playing cheap horror games.

Our partners

Whispp is a Dutch startup. We believe it is important to work in an ethically and scientifically based manner. That is why we work together with the following (academic) partners.