MSPs have backed changes to the law that will give people who are at risk of losing their voice as a result of a medical condition the right to access voice equipment on the NHS.
The Scottish Government's amendment to the Health Bill was supported by Holyrood's Health Committee at stage two today.
The commitment to provide voice equipment was made by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon when she announced her legislative programme in September.
Motor neurone disease (MND) patient Gordon Aikman and MND Scotland had been campaigning for those who need voice equipment to have a statutory right to it.
Introducing the amendment at the committee, Public Health Minister Maureen Watt said it was "the right thing to do", because "loss of voice and the need for voice equipment affects a small number of people but has a huge impact on their lives".
She said the Government had been told that provision of voice equipment across Scotland was "inconsistent, inequitable and does not always meet the needs of people with communication difficulties, particularly those requiring high-tech devices".
"The aim of amendment one is to provide a more explicit duty to Scottish Ministers to provide or secure the provision of communication equipment and its associated support, which will consequently raise the profile of this service, bringing it to the forefront of service delivery," she told the committee.
"By introducing this duty it is expected that health boards who will discharge that duty on behalf of Scottish Ministers will review their current service, systems and processes and consider this service as a priority.
"The breadth of the proposed duty is deliberate. It provides flexibility to determine who might receive communication equipment, what type of equipment might be provided and allows responsiveness to future technological developments."
Ministers will issue directions to health boards to help them meet the duty, she said.
Ms Watt said the Government was also undertaking "operational improvement work" in coordination with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, and would also fund the Euan MacDonald Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Research to pilot voice banking at three NHS sites from April.
"We thank Gordon Aikman for bringing this research work to our attention and look forward to the findings of the pilot," she added.
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