The inimitable voice of the late theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking, was based on voice recordings of electrical engineer Dennis Klatt. Klatt, a researcher in speech and hearing science, was devoted to solving communication problems in people with disabilities. Recording his own voice (which he called ‘Perfect Paul’), Klatt pioneered computerized speech synthesis.
When Hawking was offered an upgrade to a more natural sounding voice, he declined, choosing to stick with the computerized voice he had become accustomed to and now identified as his own. When Hawking met with the Queen of England in 2014, she joked, “Have you still got that American voice?” He responded, “Yes, it is copyrighted actually.”
During his memorial service, Stephen Hawking’s voice was beamed into space; aimed directly at the nearest black hole. It is expected to reach this black hole—1A 0620-00—in about 3,500 years. Ironically, Dennis Klatt went on to lose his own voice to cancer.
Stephen Hawking’s wheelchair sold for £300,000 at auction in 2018.
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