U.S. Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) lost her voice due to Parkinson’s-like progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and relied on traditional text-to-speech tools with robotic voices. Thanks to ElevenLabs’ AI-powered voice cloning, she can now deliver speeches in her native voice despite the effects of PSP on her vocal abilities.
After Wexton used the robotic-sounding speech in the House of Representatives, ElevenLab reached out to Wexton’s staff. With Wexton’s approval, her team provided ElevenLabs with over an hour of audio clips from before her diagnosis. According to the congresswoman and her team, in just a few days, ElevenLabs successfully created a digital version of Wexton’s voice, capturing the cadence, tone and timbre that once characterized her speech. The new voice model was first demonstrated when Wexton spoke before the House Appropriations Committee, delivering a strikingly natural sound compared to her previous computer-generated voice.
“Since I first began using an augmentative and auxiliary communication (AAC) device to speak in the House and in committees, I have received a flood of supportive messages from disability rights activists, telling me how important it is to show that our words are no less our own or less important just because people like me may not be able to use our voices in the same way,” Wexton said in a statement.
“You don’t understand how important accessibility is until you yourself are dependent on a walker or an AAC device, as I learned to do last year. I hope that this new step of introducing an AI language model can also be an opportunity to start a discussion about new and creative ways we can continue to support people facing health and accessibility issues like myself, and show that our abilities do not define who we are.”
Your ears are not deceiving you – AI has allowed me to create a new model of my voice as it was before my PSP. I hope this helps to show creative ways we can support people facing the same health and accessibility challenges as me and show that our abilities do not define us. pic.twitter.com/ztXDjCgi63July 10, 2024
Accessible language
Wexton emphasized in her speech that having an AI-generated voice not only represents a personal achievement, but also underscores the transformative potential of AI in assisting people with speech impairments. By restoring a more natural-sounding voice, the technology improves Wexton’s ability to connect and communicate more authentically with her colleagues and the public.
ElevenLabs has quickly made a name for itself in the AI voice industry. The company’s technology uses advanced algorithms to not only reproduce a person’s voice, but also modulate tone and emphasis, creating a more lifelike and natural sound. AI can even bring back the voices of people who have since passed away. The company recently unveiled AI versions of the voices of James Dean, Burt Reynolds, Judy Garland and Sir Laurence Olivier for its Reader app.
The successful implementation of AI-generated voices underscores a broader trend toward integrating AI into assistive technologies. These advances not only improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, but also open up new opportunities for inclusion and participation in various areas of life. By enabling more natural communication, AI technologies can help bridge the ability-disability gap.
