Professor Martin Curley presenting Stephen Hawking with a birthday gift, "In celebration of your 70th birthday, Intel Corporation has created this silicon wafer with your name, patterned at the nanoscale, on each one of its hundreds of individual die." (via Intel)
Prominent theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has probably one of the most recognizable voices on the planet. The cosmologist ‘acquired’ the computerized voice as a result of being afflicted with Lou Gehrig’s disease (at age 21 and was expected to live for only 3 years), which has slowly immobilized his body over time including the ability to speak (due to a tracheotomy). In the mid 80’s Stephen used special software (known as Equalizer) developed by Walt Woltosz to speak, which was done by selecting words from various menus on a computer screen using a hand-held button. As the Professor’s motor skills continued to diminish and could no longer use his hands, he switched to a system that could select words through head and eye movement. In the 90’s this system soon became portable allowing him to speak at various academic institutions by outfitting his motorized wheelchair with a laptop computer along with a speech synthesizer (made by Speech Plus). As his condition continues to take its toll on his muscles he will eventually no longer be able to continue to use his speech system, however chief technology officer Justin Rattner at Intel Corporation is looking to devise a new system that will enable the Professor to continue speaking using incredibly minute facial expressions.
Hawking’s current system consists of a tablet PC (Lenovo X220), an audio amplifier and speech synthesizer for speech (contained in a black box situated underneath and on the back of his chair) and a wireless USB interface that receives signals from an infrared sensor clipped to his eyeglasses. The sensor detects changes in light as he twitches his cheek muscle to interface with the computer and select the words he wants to use. Justin is looking to upgrade his current hardware and software setup to increase the rate at which Stephen can communicate. The Intel officer intends to use a combination of hardware sensors, including a camera, thermometer, accelerometer and microphone, along with facial recognition and Words+ speech synthesizer software to increase the rate at which he can select words to around 10 words per minute. The new system will not only be able to receive input through Hawking’s cheek movements but mouth and eyebrow movements as well. The question remains on whether or not the system will maintain his iconic voice or rather if it will be capable of producing a more natural voice. Either way one thing’s for certain, he’ll be able to continue to speak for a long time to come.
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