Robert Schmidtbauer – Building a Voice for My BrotherRobert Schmidtbauer – Building a Voice for My Brother
Recovery After Stroke
Robert Schmidtbauer shares how his brother’s ataxia and stroke led to severe speech difficulties, turning him into a full-time translator. He explains how that experience inspired a simple communication app aimed at helping stroke survivors and their families speak more easily in everyday situations.
33:27•6 Jul 2026
How One Brother Helped a Stroke Survivor Speak Again
Episode Overview
- Speech difficulties after stroke can remain long after formal rehab ends, leaving families to bridge the communication gap themselves.
- Simple tools with pre-set phrases and text-to-speech can help stroke survivors express basic needs and hold conversations more independently.
- Low-cost, straightforward technology may be more practical for families than complex, expensive communication systems.
- Caregivers often become informal translators for loved ones, and supportive apps can ease that burden and reduce frustration.
- Facilities like nursing homes and assisted living centres could use speech apps to improve resident communication and lessen feelings of isolation.
“If I ask him three times, I still can't understand it. Spell it for me, you know. So, I mean, that's kind of how we got by until I developed this app.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey and the wider impact of stroke? This conversation between host Bill Gasiamis and guest Robert Schmidtbauer centres on a simple but powerful idea: one brother finding a way to give another his voice back. Robert talks about life with his younger brother, who was already living with ataxia long before a stroke hit. Ataxia had taken his ability to walk and affected his speech; the stroke made communication even harder.
Robert explains the day he found his brother on the floor after hours, initially thinking it was alcohol, only to learn it was a serious stroke that led to weeks in hospital and months in rehab. When his brother eventually came home, rehab had helped him regain some function, but his speech remained a major hurdle. Robert became the "translator" in the house, filling in the missing 30–40% of sentences for carers, cleaners and visitors.
He jokes about asking his brother to repeat things three times and then finally saying, "Spell it for me," just to work out what was being said. Seeing how often this happened, and frustrated with learning AI for another project, Robert asked himself a different question: could technology help his brother speak more clearly to others?
From that moment came Larry's Speakeasy, a low-cost communication app with simple pre-set phrases and text-to-speech, designed for people with stroke-related speech difficulties and similar conditions. He talks through how it works, why it’s deliberately basic, and how facilities like nursing homes and assisted living centres might use it to support residents and reduce isolation.
If you’ve ever struggled to understand or be understood after stroke, or you care for someone who has, this story might get you thinking about what small, practical tools could make daily life easier. What kind of support would help you feel heard more often?
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