Jay and Melissa Blocksom are the founders of JITA 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. During the time they were getting to know each other over the telephone, Melissa began to develop spasmodic dysphonia, a speech disorder. Not to be deterred, Melissa soon discovered the California Voice Relay System. By using it, she and Jay could talk to each other through a relay operator who spoke what Melissa typed on a TTY machine.

Jay's ambition to solve this problem, along with his passion for computers and technology, 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 the telephone, there would be no need for persons who couldn't speak to use a voice relay system.

In 2007 JITA Technologies developed their first prototype. This was a modified analog telephone that could receive the audio directly into the telephone and send it over the telephone line. 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 an analog telephone line, an internet connection or a cell phone connection. But more importantly, it gives those who use it, a life of greater freedom and independence!

Jay and Melissa currently live in Columbia, South Carolina.