A Master’s student at the University of Sheffield has created a revolutionary new technology that synthesizes the voice of a patient who has lost
their vocal cords, in order to give them their own voice back.
Bernadette Chapman, a cancer patient who had her vocal cords removed, has had her voice reconstructed by an electronic voice replication system. Researchers took recordings of Chapman’s voice before she had a laryngectomy operation which removed her vocal cords after she developed cancer, reports the Telegraph.
The team from the University of Sheffield’s Departments of Computer Science and Human Communication Sciences helped reconstruct her voice using a speech synthesis technique based on statistical models of speech sounds.
Using the theory and supplied software developed by the University of Edinburgh, they used the patient’s recordings to adapt an “average voice model” to sound like Chapman. The voice was built using around seven minutes of speech from the patient, which amounted to 100 sentences, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Researchers have since asked Chapman and her relatives what the think of the voice, with all listeners agreeing it sounded very similar to the original. Chapman explained that for years those who had lost their vocal cords communicated using an artificial larynx, a handheld, battery-operated machine held under the jaw and picks up on vibrations allowing speech.
“The machine tends to sound very like a dalek and can be very embarrassing to use, especially in public places”, said Chapman, a former Nursing Sister.
“To have a new technique that sounds more like a human voice, indeed more like the patient’s own voice prior to operation, would be a great breakthrough and welcomed by all of us who rely on technology to communicate.
Phil Green, from the University of Sheffield, said: “Your voice is part of your identity and if this technique can help you to recover it and communicate in a natural way your quality of life could be much improved. “The technique is still evolving and not yet ready to be installed on a hand-held device but that is coming, maybe as soon as a couple of years time.”
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