Hong Kong: The famous British scientist Stephen Hawking, who speaks with an electronic speech synthesiser, on Thursday said he once considered using a machine that gave him a French accent but he couldn't use it because his wife would divorce him.
The astrophysicist, author of the global best-seller A Brief History of Time, is wheelchair-bound and communicates with an electronic voice because he has the neurological disorder called Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
After a lecture on Thursday, Hawking was asked why his computerised voice has an American accent.
"The voice I use is a very old hardware speech synthesiser made in 1986," Hawking said. "I keep it because I have not heard a voice I like better and because I have identified with it."
But Hawking has said he's shopping for a new system because the hardware he uses is large and fragile. He also said it uses components that are no longer made.
"I have been trying to get a software version, but it seems very difficult," he said. "One version has a French accent. I said if I used it, my wife would divorce me."
The moderator at the lecture told the audience that at a recent dinner, she asked Hawking what his ambitions were.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
