Hawking’s computer voice to be replaced

Professor Stephen Hawking may lose his distinctive computerised voice as deteriorating facial muscles have slowed down his ability to speak to one word per minute, according to aides.

Professor Stephen Hawking may lose his distinctive computerised voice as deteriorating facial muscles have slowed down his ability to speak to one word per minute, according to aides.

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The world’s most famous physicist uses technology operated by twitching his cheek to painstakingly write words on a computer. A tiny infrared sensor on his glasses detects his cheek pulses, and then selects words displayed on a linked-up computer screen. The chosen words are then spoken by a voice synthesiser.

“His speech has got slower and slower and on a bad day he can only manage about one word a minute,” Judith Croas­dell, his personal assistant said.