Hawking couldn’t talk, but he could choose his voice
LONDON: Stephen Hawking’s computer-generated voice was known to millions of people around the world, a robotic drawl that enhanced the profound impact of the cosmological secrets he revealed.
The technology behind his means of communication was upgraded through the years, offering him the chance to sound less like a machine, but he insisted on sticking to the original voice because it had effectively become his own.
The renowned theoretical physicist, who died on Wednesday aged 76, lost his ability to speak more than three decades ago after a tracheotomy linked to complications in the motor neurone disease he was diagnosed with at the age of 21.
Hawking started to communicate again using his eyebrows to indicate letters on a spelling card.
A Cambridge University colleague, Martin King, contacted US company Words Plus, which had developed a program to allow a user to select words using a hand clicker, according to a 2014 report in Wired magazine.
It was linked to an early speech synthesiser, which turned Hawking’s text into spoken language.
In 1997, PC chip-maker Intel stepped in to improve Hawking’s computer-based communication system, and in 2014 it upgraded the technology to make it faster and easier for Hawking to communicate.
It used algorithms developed by SwiftKey, a British software company acquired by Microsoft, best known for its predictive text technology used in smartphones.
Hawking said the voice had been “described variously as Scandinavian, American or Scottish. I keep it because I have not heard a voice I like better and because I have identified with it.” – Reuter
When I turned 21, my expectations were reduced to zero. It was important that I came to appreciate what I did have. It’s also important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life is, because you can lose all hope if you can’t laugh at yourself
and life in general. – Renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who died this week at the age of 76. At 21, Hawking was diagnosed with a condition similar to Lou Gehrig’s disease and given two years to live. The disease shut down Hawking’s motor functions, rendering him speechless and unable to move without a wheelchair. He communicated with a computerised voice.
Yes. And also a universe where
you’re funny. – Hawking tells latenight comic John Oliver on Last
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