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Ask HN: My wife might lose the ability to speak in 3 weeks – how to prepare?

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Re: Ask HN: My wife might lose the ability to speak in 3 weeks – how to prepare?

#171

Post by mhh__ »

bergerjac wrote: post #144
kemiller2002 wrote: post #129

My mom lost her ability to speak, and what you are going to find is that your life and how you interact with everyone will have to change. Human verbal communication is very fast. She will find it difficult to be part of normal conversations. Without lots of help, she will start to fade into the background of conversations, because she can't keep up. You will have to help her be a part of things. It will be a depress…

Seems like a great application for Elon's Neuralink.

Who needs therapy when you have technology that doesn't exist yet!

Re: Ask HN: My wife might lose the ability to speak in 3 weeks – how to prepare?

#173

Post by aspaceman »

netsharc wrote: post #125
joshribakoff wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconding this, also, reproducing her voice with an AI may not be something she is on board with, it could make her feel like you don't accept her with or without a voice. It may also be unhealthy for you, similar to how spending too long on social media can become a dangerous source of dopamine. It might make sense to consider making a recording that is more meaningful, and focus on giving her emotional support rath…

It's not like OP is replacing her entirity with Alexa, if I were the wife I'd think "sure, let's 'backup' my voice, having it available in case I lose mine would be useful, so that people can still hear my thoughts in my voice instead of a robot's."...

Of course, but I think it's very, very important that OP has this conversation themselves and doesn't take the word of folks on the Internet

Re: Ask HN: My wife might lose the ability to speak in 3 weeks – how to prepare?

#174

Post by aspaceman »

quiet_hacker wrote: post #136

I have a progressive neurodegenerative disease and lost most my ability to speak about 3 years ago. What you are proposing is super cool, but you might be overthinking this. These things (text to speech, etc) are more awkward than practical in real life. Also, make sure your wife is completely on board. Seeing old clips and hearing my voice is actually kind of depressing to me. Here is my actual advice: Outside of so…

> There are awkward encounters where people don't know you can't speak, and will respond by speaking louder and slower. These people will also assume you are not intelligent and be dismissive. This is just one of the things you have to deal with.

It sucks you have to just deal with it.

Re: Ask HN: My wife might lose the ability to speak in 3 weeks – how to prepare?

#177

Post by joeyspn »

olivermarks wrote: post #10
Mo3 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This right here

https://youtu.be/0sR1rU3gLzQ 'This AI Clones Your Voice After Listening for 5 Seconds'

Woah, this is definitely the solution that the OP needs. I did read about WaveNet's text-to-speech a couple of years ago but didn't know it has progressed this far. It's crazy good, mindblowing.

Re: Ask HN: My wife might lose the ability to speak in 3 weeks – how to prepare?

#178

Post by saltcured »

krisoft wrote: post #108
Rotten194 wrote: post #53

I would also suggest looking into learning American Sign Language (of course alongside this project). While communicating via keyboard is workable and good for communicating with the wider world, ASL would be much more convenient for communicating between you two -- and a very interesting language to boot. It is a foreign language thats not related to English besides a few loan words, but there's tons of online resou…

I think your answer misses the point of the question. Learning ASL can be done after the surgery if she lost her voice. The question was what can be done now before the surgery. The kind of things which, if it comes to the worst and she loses her voice, cannot be done after.

I wouldn't discount the value of having some rudimentary signs to communicate immediately after surgery. It seems odd to me to focus on some dream of a perfect TTS synthesis if these more basic needs are not addressed first.

If you've ever had a mouth injury that inhibits talking, or been in a foreign environment where your speech is totally useless, it can be very stressful to be unable to communicate. I think the couple should consider learning some of the basics ahead of time, so that communication is possible without typing or any other apparatus.

Considering post-surgery recovery window, I'd want to be able to express very basic things like:

I am comfortable

I am in pain

I am hungry

I am nauseated

I need to urinate/defecate

I want to rest

I love you

When will you return

etc. I might suggest trying to boil down one or two inside-joke kinds of phrases as well, to be able to lift each others spirits in private or intimate way.

Re: Ask HN: My wife might lose the ability to speak in 3 weeks – how to prepare?

#179

Post by imglorp »

Rotten194 wrote: post #53

I would also suggest looking into learning American Sign Language (of course alongside this project). While communicating via keyboard is workable and good for communicating with the wider world, ASL would be much more convenient for communicating between you two -- and a very interesting language to boot. It is a foreign language thats not related to English besides a few loan words, but there's tons of online resou…

Agree. Learning for my spouse. It's fun and easy and there's a ton of resources online and maybe at your local university. You can get good enough to have essential conversation in a few hundred signs. Deep and rapid skill takes study and practice, as you would expect.

Re: Ask HN: My wife might lose the ability to speak in 3 weeks – how to prepare?

#180

Post by shagie »

core-questions wrote: post #158
vervez wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Morgan Freeman the most used celebrity?

I'd go for Stephen Hawking, myself. (Not using his voice synth, reconstructed using ML, because it should sound more natural that way ;-)

I recall that the "say" program on the SGI from the mid 90's was approximately Hawking's voice. Hawking gave his speech for the Whitehouse Millennium Lecture at SGI also, and while I wasn't able to attend I found the transcript of it and fed it in there... there were some jokes that he had that only really came through with the intonation and pacing of a voice synth -- its the ultimate dead pan voice.

https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/16112 https://youtu.be/orPUQm1ZRSI

And his voice was his - even with the American accent.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/why-stephen-ha...

> “It is the best I have heard, although it gives me an accent that has been described variously as Scandinavian, American or Scottish.”

> ...

> “It has become my trademark and I wouldn’t change it for a more natural voice with a British accent.

> “I am told that children who need a computer voice want one like mine.”

Somewhere, I recall a NOVA(?) program from the mid 80s where it showed him using the speech synthesizer and the thing that he said with it that still sticks in my mind is the "please excuse my American accent". In later years he was given the opportunity to upgrade it to a more natural sounding voice - but that voice was his.

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