Since cancer left Roger Ebert without the means to speak, he’s been talking through a computer with a generic intonation. Today on Oprah, Ebert revealed his new voice by CereProc, resourcefully programmed from Ebert’s TV appearances and DVD commentaries.
Later in the show (not captured here), Ebert walks us through his Oscar picks. For the most part, the digital voice is still fairly robotic. No one is going to be mistaking this early computer rendition for the original – not yet.
But there were moments – simple syllables and phonemes – that were unmistakably his own, being rendered in real time.
What a world we live in. [Oprah]
olearymo
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at 11:16 AMThis is very impressive. I think it would be wonderful if funds were raised to get this sort of thing for Stephen Hawking – I suppose the question is, whether there are enough (any) recordings of Dr Hawking from before he lost the ability to speak.
Although I have heard that apparently he’s grown fond of the voice…