What if you lost your voice? Today, AI can recreate it, and brain implants can turn thoughts into speech. This season of The Deep End follows people living through these vocal transformations — and asks what these remarkable technologies can teach us about why our voices matter in the first place.
Laura Sanders: One of today’s most powerful pieces of technology is something we’ve had all along…
Female voices: “Hello?” “Hello.”
Laura: The human voice. If you’ve ever saved and replayed a voicemail, or called someone just to hear their voice…
Female voice: Hey dude, I’m just calling to say hi and chitchat.
Laura: Then you know that voices can connect, soothe, inspire, scare, seduce and make us laugh until we cry.
Audio: Do you want to talk? [laughter]
Laura: Our voices make us who we are, but what happens when they are lost?
MA Fernandez: I still remember the first time that I heard the first little crack in his voice that let me know something’s changing.
Laura: Welcome to The Deep End, a podcast about our brains and ourselves. I’m Laura Sanders, a reporter with Science News. And on this season, called Talk to Me, we dive into the latest scientific research to answer the question, “What happens when a voice is lost? And can it be found again?”
Jules Rodriguez: When I first heard my cloned voice, it felt like I reappeared.
Laura: Across six episodes, you’ll hear a chorus of voices like Casey, who has a brain implant that can pull words from his thoughts.
Casey Harrell: The ability to scream when you are running and want to get out some stress. The ability to say sweet nothings into your partner’s ear. These are the things that life is all about. And when you are robbed of those times, you want them back at all costs.
Laura: You’ll hear from Jules, who performs live comedy sets with a voice cloned through artificial intelligence.
Jules: Do I want to be right, or do I want to eat tonight. [laughter]
Laura: And you’ll hear from Patrick, a musician who sings with a synthetic voice.
Patrick: (Singing) Then played the rocky road, with a fire and a glow.
Laura: Synthetic voice clones, brain implants and even AI voices that can speak at their own funerals, like it or not, the story of the human voice is changing. Let’s talk about it. Listen to The Deep End: Talk to Me wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast was produced with support from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and in partnership with PRX. The podcast logo was created by Neil Webb.
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