When Sarah Ezekiel was diagnosed with
motor neurone disease more than 25 years
ago, she lost both her mobility and her
voice. But after discovering an old VHS
tape, which included a snippet of her
original Cockney accent, artificial
intelligence was able to recreate that
original voice, something Sarah's
children had never heard before. Emma
Tracy, the presenter of the BBC's
disability and mental health podcast,
Access All has the story.
I'm Sarah Ziggil and was diagnosed with
M&D when I was 34 and pregnant with my
second child, Eric, in April 2000.
>> The rather robotic voice of Sarah
Ezekiel.
Motor neuron disease means her only way
of speaking is through a computer.
each word painstakingly typed out using
a machine that tracks her eye movement,
but it was transformative.
She's lived with motor neuron disease
for 25 years. The years before her
synthetic voice were hard.
>> I felt very isolated and was struggling
to communicate with my carols, too. It
was a very difficult time, but things
did improve greatly when I could use a
computer.
>> It's a very posh voice. you have there,
Sarah. That's your old synthetic voice.
Give me a blast of your new voice.
>> Hello. This is my voice. It's a kind of
miracle really.
>> Wow. That just sounds really different.
>> After such a long time, I couldn't
really remember my voice before M andD.
When I first heard it again, I felt like
crying and it was very emotional.
>> How close is it to your original
speaking voice? Do you think
>> your mommy too? You're one.
>> I think it's pretty good. Although I
wonder if I would sound older now.
>> Oh well, there's no harm in being a bit
Peter Pan, I reckon, when it comes to a
new voice. Why not?
>> My carers and friends love my voice,
which is really nice. I feel like myself
and I don't sound like a robot. People
didn't know I was Cockney with a slight
lisp. I feel a bit more exposed because
I didn't really like my voice before and
wondered if people looked down at me cuz
I was from the East End. I don't care
about that now and I'm glad to be back.
>> Let me play you the video that Sarah
sent me. Simon P is part of the team
that recreated Sarah's voice.
>> Sarah had a small recording of her voice
from over 20 years ago on a VHS tape.
Only 8 second sample and it was a very
low quality recording.
>> You know, I gave her a bottle one night
and she was kind of
>> despite it not being perfect. That is
good enough for an AI voice creation
tool to work with. It just needs a small
sample of your voice and then it knows
what voices normally sound like and it
can use that to fine-tune its model to
sound like your voice. Let's hear the
final version.
>> I thought, you know, I gave her a bottle
one night and she was so much happier.
>> That is incredible. Really incredible.
>> For Sarah's children, it's been a
revelation.
>> Is it what you expected?
>> No.
>> What did you expect?
>> I didn't know she was Cockney. I didn't
know. Well, I knew she was East London,
but I didn't know she had a Cockney
accent. It's taken me a while to process
it, but really hearing it in the house,
it's made me really happy and quite
emotional. Mom isn't just a disabled
person in the corner with a robot that
doesn't relate to her. She's here. We
can hear her. We can feel who you are as
a person.
>> I would say the best thing about her new
voice is how much emotion comes through
and how it's so much clearer what mom's
feeling and what she's trying to get
across, what mood she's in.
>> Do you like it, Mom? Are you happy with
it?
[Music]
>> I'm not sure because I hated my voice
before, but it's better than being a
robot. We'll put that down as a yes.
>> Sarah, she's an artist.
>> She's written a play. She's an advocate
for others with motor neuron disease.
And she's a mother of two. This is a
special moment for the whole family.
>> My greatest gift is to have been able to
let my children hear my voice again.
>> Emma Tracy, BBC News.