Jay and Melissa Blocksom are the founders of JITA (Jesus Is The Answer)
Technologies, LLC. The two met through a Christian internet dating site
several years ago while. At the time Melissa lived in California, and
Jay lived in Pennsylvania. While they were getting to know each other
via email and over the telephone, Melissa's voice problem - spasmodic
dysphonia, began to worsen. Pretty soon it became very difficult for
them to talk on the phone. This prompted Melissa's discovery of the
California Voice Relay Service, a system that allows two parties to talk
to each other through a relay operator by using a TTY machine.
While they were thankful for being able to still communicate with each
other, their privacy was gone, and along with it the tendency to be
spontaneous and intimate. Jay wondered if there was a way to solve this
problem. His passion for computers and technology ultimately led him
to discover text-to-speech, a technology that takes typed text and then
speaks it through synthesized voice audio. He figured if there was a way
to get the spoken text to go from a computer or speech generating
device directly into a phone then there would be no need for persons
with voice problems to use a voice relay operator.
In 2007 JITA Technologies developed their first prototype and called it
the Speech Assistant. This specially built analog telephone received the
audio directly into the phone and sent it over the telephone line just
like the voice of a real caller. However, with the gaining popularity of
cell phones over conventional phones, they decided they should make
something more compatible with both.
In 2008 their second version of the Speech Assistant met and continues
to meet that challenge! It can be used with most any cell phone or
cordless telephone that has a jack for a headset. The unit is portable,
compact, and allows the user to make and receive telephone calls
privately from anywhere by using either a headset and either of the
following: an analog telephone, a voip phone, or a cell phone. And most
of all it gives the privacy and the freedom to call anyone, anywhere at
any time!
Jay and Melissa currently live in Columbia, South Carolina.