Stephen Hawking seeks help to make voice heard

Wed, 01/04/2012 - 5:03am
RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press
LONDON (AP) -- Can you help make Stephen Hawking's voice heard?



He lost his real voice in a tracheotomy in 1985, but a wheelchair-mounted computer helps synthesize speech by interpreting the twitches of his face. The synthesizer's robotic monotone has become nearly as famous as Hawking himself, but the computer - powered by batteries fastened to the back of Hawking's wheelchair - isn't just for speaking.

It can connect to the Internet over cell phone networks and a universal infrared remote enables the physicist to switch on the lights, watch television, or open doors either at home or at the office.

It's a complicated, tailor-made system, as the ad makes clear. A photograph of the back of Hawking's wheelchair, loaded with coiled wires and electronic equipment, is pictured under the words: "Could you maintain this?"

"If your answer is 'yes,' we'd like to hear from you!" the website says.






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