Peter Scott Morgan who had been diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (ALS/MND) got in touch with CereProc to talk about building an emotional speech synthesiser that would reflect his own character and personality. He recorded over 20,000 words to build a voice that he used after his laryngectomy.
Dr Aylett worked closely with Peter and also with Ari Shapiro at Embody Digital to integrate Peter’s synthetic voice with a animated avatar. For details of this work see the academic paper published at PETRA 2022 . The work was part of a wonderful documentary by Channel 4 - Peter: The Human Cyborg.
Dr Aylett was a Trustee and Deputy Chief Scientist from 2020 to 2024 for a charity the Scott Morgan Foundation which was set up by Peter for the public benefit, the advancement of science, health and education, by carrying out, promoting and publishing research into the ethical use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, enhanced reality, robotics, and other high-technology systems to augment the capabilities and wellbeing of those restricted by age, ill-health, disability, or other physical or mental disadvantage.
During his time working with SMF Dr Aylett worked on supporting Peter’s speech synthesis with a novel technique termed vocal puppetry. This approach was used to support Peter in a several high visibility events. Perhaps the two most impressive being an interview with Stephen Fry at the Hay Festival about his book Peter 2.0 and his address to the House of Lords on the Assisted Dying Bill .
Peter Scott Morgan dies in June 2022. His enthusiasm and determination to make the world a better place for those challenged by disability is very much missed.