Hendon-based artist Sarah Ezekiel was approached by the CEO of Bristol-based firm Smartbox last December about helping to recreate her original voice from an old sound clip.
The onset of the disease in her mid-30s – which left her unable to use her voice or hands – came long before the use of smartphones and cameras recording our every waking moment.
Smartbox asked her for an hour-long recording, but the 60-year-old could only find an eight-second clip on an old VHS tape, shot on a camcorder.
She says: “When the CEO of Smartbox asked me if I had a recording of my voice before MND, I sent a video where I say one line, and I had no hope whatsoever.
“I’d had the video for years and never imagined it would lead to me getting my voice back.”
With the help of AI, the firm, which helps people with complex communication needs, managed to reconstruct Sarah’s speaking voice – complete with a lisp and London accent.
“I almost cried when I first heard my voice again,” she says.
“I felt very emotional. It was awful having a robotic voice for twenty years. I felt like I had lost my identity.”
The event was also emotional for Sarah’s children Eric and Aviva, who had only ever heard her speak in an electronic voice.
“I think my children were very surprised because they couldn’t remember my voice at all,” says Sarah, who publicly debuted her new voice at JW3 in Finchley Road, Hampstead in June.
Sarah performing in her self-penned autobiographical show Ms MNDy’s Adventures in Wonderland. (Image: Supplied) The artist performed alongside drag artists in the self-penned autobiographical Ms MaNDy’s Adventures in Wonderland, which describes her journey from early childhood memories to being diagnosed with the degenerative condition, and beyond.
She told the Ham&High at the time: “My marriage collapsed and I was left alone with two young children to bring up with the help of carers. As the disease progressed and I became more disabled, I spiralled into deep depression and couldn’t see any hope or happiness ahead.
“Dr Adrian Tookman at the Marie Curie Hospice in Hampstead put me back together and I started to enjoy life again. I began volunteering for the NW London MND Association branch, writing, painting using eye gaze technology and campaigning to help people with MND get the equipment and help they need.”
Sarah also started using eye gaze technology to create visual art and write her memoir.
When she spoke in her ‘real voice’ during the show there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
“I wrote a new scene for my show about my voice which we performed at JW3,” she says.
“The audience loved it and it was very exciting to reveal my voice in the show.
“I’m currently writing a new show which will have my new voice throughout.
“Going forward, I hope people will see me as more human even though I have to use a computer to communicate.”
