A Disabled Academician Who Slowly Lost His Ability to Speak Immortalized His Voice with an iPhone [Video]

Tristram Ingham, a native of New Zealand, is a doctor who conducts academic research and one of the leaders of the disabled community. Ingham himself struggles with a disease called fascioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). This disorder causes deterioration of the face, shoulder and arm muscles.

People suffering from FSHD may lose their ability to speak and eat over time. Ingham, who started using a wheelchair in 2013, says that he started to notice that his voice was changing in recent years. To protect his voice, he gets support from iPhone.

Ingham relies on iPhone to protect his voice

Ingham said, “I noticed that it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to speak out at the end of a long day. I was supposed to give a presentation at a conference last month, but I couldn’t speak that day because I was out of breath. Even though I prepared the presentation, someone else had to do it.” He explains as follows.

Saying that he may not be able to use his speaking voice at all in the future, Ingham says that he has put this out of his mind from a human perspective because there is nothing he can do about it. Ingham was helped by the Personal Voice feature, which Apple introduced with iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and macOS Sonoma. With Personal Voice, users who are at risk of losing their ability to speak can record a 15-minute voice reading a series of texts. Thus, a voice that resembles people’s own voices can be created using samples taken from their speech.

In this technology, Apple makes it possible to have conversations with artificial intelligence by training neural networks entirely on the device. In this way, accessibility opportunities in the speech area are improved while ensuring the privacy of users.

Apple continues its work on access

Regarding this technology, Ingham said, “Disabled communities place great emphasis on intermediary voices that speak on our behalf. Historically, people with disabilities have had their helpers or families speak on their behalf. “If technology allows a voice to be preserved and preserved, this means independence and self-management.” he said.

Ingham also voiced her own Personal Voice and the children’s book of the same name in the movie The Lost Voice for Apple. This film was prepared for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Apple also has a Live Speech feature that can voice text for accessibility purposes.

Apple has a short film called “Lost Voice” featuring Ingham