Why Stephen Hawking never changed his voice.

The first DECtalk units were built in 1984 by Digital Equipment Corporation based on KlattTalk and MITalk. They were standalone units that connected to any device with an asynchronous serial port. These units were also able to connect to the telephone system by having two telephone jacks. The DECtalk units could recognize and generate any telephone touch tone. With that capability the units could be used to automate various telephone-related tasks by handling both incoming and outgoing calls. This included acting as an interface to an email system and the capability to function as an alerting system by utilizing the ability to place calls and interact via touch tones with the person answering the phone. In 1986 Stephen Hawking began using the CallText 5010 using a licensed version of DECTalk. It started as a novelty and not yet a part of his identity, but he begun testing it before the motor neuron disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis stole his ability to speak. A computer text interface allowed Hawking's selected bits of text on a video screen by moving his cheek, and the CallText turned the text into speech. At the start of his first public lecture, Hawking joked about it: “The only problem,” he said, to big laughs, “is that it gives me an American accent.” The "Perfect Paul” voice of the CallText/DECtalk system became the "Stephen Hawking” personality. Hawking felt so strongly about the tone and intonation of "Perfect Paul” that he resisted any change to the voice even when the hardware form the 1980s no longer made sense with his new laptop. Ultimately in the early 2014 "Perfect Paul” had to be simulated in new software to match this iconic voice. This is the first time in history that the anthropomorphized sounds of a speech synthesizer became not only the proxy for a person but also an integrated part of their personality. It will not be the last time...

[@zoewells3160]

>I am told that children who need a computer voice, want one like mine
Awwwww

[@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

Apparently, the man who invented this - Dennis Klatt died from cancer - losing his voice :(

[@swordandsheild1]

Just his voice huh?

[@BALLERBOYS21]

That’s also the reason he never changes it. It’s his late friends voice

[@MrZer000]

I assume by dying he also lost his life, right?

[@keiranleitch9994]

This didn’t age well

[@garry12gg]

The game Moonbase Alpha uses this TTS for its text chat feature.

[@kirumitojo3595]

aeiou

[@LehySnek]

@@kirumitojo3595 JOHN MADDEN

[@ATAROWYATR]

999999999999999...

[@cloud_s_97]

ebrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbr

[@sevenbender7927]

Gosh. He looks a lot younger here. They did away with the button and gave him the glasses sensor in 2008. I don't see a sensor on his glasses here, so I'd guess late 90s/early 2000s?