A man with motor neurone disease (MND) is creating a voice synthesiser with a Yorkshire accent to help him keep his identity when he can no longer speak.
Jason Liversidge, 41, originally from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, was diagnosed with MND in 2013 and knows one day he will not be able to talk.
The condition affects cells that control muscle activity including for walking, swallowing and talking.
About 30 Yorkshiremen are needed to program a voice for Mr Liversidge.
As the condition progresses, he will be able to use a voice synthesiser similar to the one famously used by physicist Prof Stephen Hawking – but Mr Liversidge wanted to make sure it sounded more like his own voice.
Mr Liversidge, who now lives in Rise near Hornsea, East Yorkshire, said: “One of the worst things is my brain knows exactly what I want to say and I go to say it, because the muscles don’t work as well as they used to I’m like, stuttering.”
He added: “I would like to keep a form of identity. I don’t just want to be a programmed voice on a computer. Also, for the kids and Liz, I want the voice not to be a computer one.”
He is being helped by a Edinburgh research centre the Anne Rowling Clinic, which specialises in degenerative diseases.
The centre, set up by Harry Potter author JK Rowling whose mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, is running a project which is trying to create personal synthetic voices, called Speak:Unique.
Mr Liversidge’s speech is already starting to slur, but scientists aim to “repair” the flaws in it with the aid of donors.
The process involves finding people with a similar accent to read 400 phrases on to a computer, which can then be banked and broken down into sounds to recreate any word.
Dr Phillipa Rewaj, who is working on the project, said: “Rather than trying to record every single word in the dictionary, we capture all those sounds so that we can use them in any other word in which they occur.
“Your voice is as identifiable to other people as your face is, it is very unique to you, so being able to preserve that I think is very important to people.”
She is using the video of a speech Mr Liversidge made at his sister’s wedding as a benchmark, and needs 20 to 30 “donors”, preferably from Scarborough where he grew up, to fill in the gaps.
His wife, Liz Liversidge, said they were trying as a family to ensure they do as much together now as possible, as she knows the condition is life-limiting.
“It’s really important for us that we try and get out and about with the girls and make as many memories as possible,” she said.
“We’re trying to compile as many videos and photographs as possible, so later on when Jason is no longer here they have something to remember him by.”
The “new” voice created by the clinic will be controlled by Mr Liversidge using eye movements, focusing on letters to type out what he wants to say.
Nearly all the voices the clinic has worked on since it opened in 2011 have been Scottish, and Mr Liversidge’s is the first Yorkshire accent.
Finding all the donors will take months but in the meantime the couple are trying to keep family life as “normal” as possible – Mr Liversidge is still able to drive so he can do the school run and join his family on days out.
Despite this, Mrs Liversidge said it was the “constant progression” of the condition that they have found hard. “He’s not even able to pick the girls up and give them a cuddle,” she said.
The personalised voice equipment should be ready to use in a matter of months, once all the donor voices have been recorded.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-38854411
