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CHICAGO — Film critic Roger Ebert says computer programmers have captured his voice from movie commentary tracks so he can type what he wants to say and listeners hear a voice that sounds like him.
Ebert lost his ability to speak after surgery for cancer. He writes in Sunday's Chicago Sun-Times that a Scottish company has helped him regain a voice his grandchildren can recognize.
Ebert recorded commentaries for DVD movies before he lost his voice. A Scottish company called CereProc blended digital recordings of Ebert speaking to make his text-to-audio voice.
Ebert writes that the voice will be heard predicting Oscar winners on a segment of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" airing Tuesday.
He wrote on his Web site: "Yes, "Roger Jr." needs to be smoother in tone and steadier in pacing, but the little rascal is good. To hear him coming from my own computer made me ridiculously happy."
He says he may be able to use the voice for radio and Webcasts.
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