In most conversations around learning design, especially in digital formats, the focus tends to be on visuals. And for good reason. Visuals help explain ideas and keep learners engaged.
But,
Learning is not just about what we see. It is also about how something is said, how it is heard, and how it feels in the moment of understanding.
A clear, well-paced explanation in a familiar tone can make a big difference. The energy of a 16-year-old voice or the calm, reassuring tone of a teacher are not secondary. They play an important role in how learning comes together.
It is from this understanding that we are excited to share a step forward.
Udhyam is now partnering with ElevenLabs to strengthen how we design and deliver audio in our learning experiences. Through this partnership, we have received access to 100,000 credits per month for the next 12 months, allowing us to expand voice-enabled content across our programmes.
This partnership began during our time in the Tech4Dev accelerator, where we explored how technology can deepen impact in education. With the support of Donald Lobo, early conversations with the ElevenLabs team took shape. At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, these conversations moved forward, and what began as an idea grew into a shared direction.
Audio as Access, Not Just Enhancement
Today, our AI voice-enabled videos have reached over 3.5 million students and 45,000 teachers across 10 states .
At Udhyam, our curriculum is designed to be experienced, not just read. It comes alive through videos, tutorials, and explainer modules used across government schools, often in low-resource settings.
In these contexts, audio becomes essential. Many learners access content on small, shared screens.
Even strong visuals can fall short if the explanation is not clear. A familiar, well-paced voice can make content easier to follow and more accessible, especially across languages.
“The availability of Indian regional languages with credible AI pronunciations allows us to add multilingual audio to our videos, making the content more relatable and effective for a diverse learner base.”
— Chinmay Kher, Graphic Design Specialist, Curriculum Team
From Creating Audio to Designing Learning Experiences
Creating audio at scale has traditionally been slow and resource-heavy. Working with voice artists, managing recordings, and making changes takes time and effort. For organisations like ours, where content is constantly being created and updated, this often slows down both production and experimentation.
With AI voice tools, this has started to change.
We can now test different tones, make quick edits, and create consistent, high-quality voiceovers without long production cycles. This makes it easier to build, iterate, and improve content continuously, without being held back by traditional constraints.
More importantly, it has changed how we think about audio itself.
We no longer see it as just narration, but as an integral part of the learning experience. Different moments in a learning journey call for different kinds of voices. A concept may need clarity and steadiness. A prompt may need energy. Teacher-facing content may need a calm, supportive tone.
Audio allows us to design for these nuances.
It helps us move beyond a single, uniform way of delivering content and towards something more contextual and human. It also allows us to create experiences that feel more local and relevant, especially as we work across languages and regions.
Designing for learning often comes down to small choices that shape larger outcomes. For us, one of those choices has been paying closer attention to how learning sounds.
Because,
When audio is done well, it does more than explain.
It supports. It guides. It stays.
And it helps learning reach further, and land better.
