Speak Your Mind

“At Ann Johnson’s wedding reception 20 years ago, her gift for speech was vividly evident. In an ebullient 15-minute toast, she joked that she had run down the aisle, wondered if the ceremony program should have said “flutist” or “flautist” and acknowledged that she was ‘hogging the mic.’ Just two years later, Mrs. Johnson — then a 30-year-old teacher, volleyball coach and mother of an infant — had a cataclysmic stroke that paralyzed her and left her unable to talk.” Johnson’s voice from that speech is finally being heard again, powered by signals from her brain. “Technology converted her brain signals into written and vocalized language, and enabled an avatar on a computer screen to speak the words and display smiles, pursed lips and other expressions … Mrs. Johnson chose the avatar, a face resembling hers, and researchers used her wedding toast to develop the avatar’s voice.” Pam Belluck in NYT (Gift Article): A Stroke Stole Her Ability to Speak at 30. A.I. Is Helping to Restore It Years Later.

+ More from UCSF: How Artificial Intelligence Gave a Paralyzed Woman Her Voice Back.