British artist Sarah Ezekiel, who lost her voice to motor neurone disease at age 34, has regained her natural voice thanks to artificial intelligence and an eight-second clip from an old home video.
The only available recording, a poor-quality clip from the 1990s, was enhanced using AI technology developed by New York-based ElevenLabs, producing a voice that closely resembled Ezekiel’s original London accent and slight lisp.
Ezekiel, now 59, said she “almost cried” when she heard her restored voice and shared it with a friend who remembered how she used to sound. Her children, Aviva and Eric, were able to hear their mother’s voice for the first time.
Experts note that most voice-preservation methods require long, high-quality recordings, which were rarely available before smartphones. The new AI approach delivers more natural, expressive voices, helping patients with motor neurone disease preserve their sense of identity.
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