Sixteen-year-old Pranet Khetan’s journey from a curious school student to an award-winning innovator began with one life-changing moment. Reported by India Today.
During a school trip to a paralysis-care centre, Pranet watched patients struggle to articulate words they clearly understood but could not express.
The disconnect between mind and speech struck him deeply. He realised that while medical technology had advanced, communication tools for patients with speech impairments—especially those who speak Indian languages—were still limited, expensive, and inaccessible.
That experience stayed with him. Once back home, the Class 11 student from Shiv Nadar School, Gurgaon, began experimenting relentlessly. His room turned into a mini-lab filled with wires, circuits, microphones, and code running late into the night.
What drove him wasn’t just scientific curiosity, but a personal mission: to build a device that offered dignity and a voice to those who had lost theirs.
He discovered that most existing speech-assist devices were designed for English speakers. For a country as linguistically diverse as India, this meant millions were left out.
Determined to change that, Pranet began collecting voice samples in Hindi, training deep learning models, and refining algorithms that could interpret slurred speech patterns caused by conditions such as stroke, cerebral palsy, or Parkinson’s disease.
After months of trial and error, he created Paraspeak—an AI-powered device capable of converting slurred speech into clear, understandable Hindi in real time.
At under ₹2,000, the device is not only functional but also affordable for families in smaller towns and rural areas.
Paraspeak earned global praise at the prestigious Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair 2025, where judges recognised the rare combination of empathy, innovation, and real-world impact.
Now, Pranet is working to expand Paraspeak’s capabilities to Bengali, Tamil, and more Indian languages.
His mission is simple yet profound: to ensure that no voice remains unheard. For him, restoring someone’s ability to communicate is not just an invention — it is humanity in action.
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