When April Kerner first started losing her voice, she wasn’t sure she would be able to communicate with her family ever again.
Diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the disease not only affected Kerner’s mobility but also her ability to speak.
However, thanks to artificial intelligence technology, the 42-year-old said she can successfully communicate using a program that sounds like her old voice.
“I cried the first time I heard it because it was actually my voice again,” Kerner, who is a mother of three, told ABC News.
Kerner’s symptoms began in April 2022, when she started experiencing weakness in her right leg. The following month, she had her first fall, on Mother’s Day.
Pictured: April Kerner (second from left) with her children (from left to right) Ryker, Jax and Ava.
Courtesy of Bill and April Kerner
April and her husband, Bill Kerner, visited a slew of doctors over the next several months, including an orthopedic doctor, a spinal doctor and several neurologists, before she received her diagnosis three days after Christmas in December 2022: ALS.
ALS is a neurological disorder that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement and breathing.
As the nerve cells — called motor neurons — degenerate, they stop sending messages to the muscles. This causes the muscles to weaken and waste away, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
ALS patients eventually stop being able to control voluntary movement, including walking, talking, and chewing, as well as breathing. The neurological disorders institute said ALS is a progressive disease, meaning the symptoms worsen over time.
April and Bill Kerner said the news was a shock to both of them.
“We knew something was going on, but we had always hoped it was something that was reversible because by November [2022], she wasn’t able to walk, so we were hoping that it was anything, but ALS, really,” Bill said. “It was devastating, because we had so many plans. Our kids are so young. I mean, that was two years ago, so they were four and five at the time.”
One of the first things the Kerners did after they got the diagnosis was travel from their home in Frederick, Maryland, to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, with their three children – Ryker, Ava and Jax — in April 2023 to make memories before April started to lose more function of her extremities.
By May 2023, April started to lose her voice. The next month, she went into respiratory failure and had to have a trach inserted, which took her voice away completely.
April Kerner, from Frederick, Md., was diagnosed with ALS in December 2022. Pictured with her husband, Bill (second from right) and her children (L-R): Ava, Jax and Ryker.
Courtesy of Bill and April Kerner
In a search for a method so April Kerner could still communicate, the Kerners learned about ElevenLabs, an AI audio research and deployment company that focuses on creating human-like text-to-speech programs.
The company asked if the couple could send in some recordings with her voice, Bill Kerner said. Using AI, ElevenLabs created a voice program that sounded very similar to April Kerner’s original voice and not the robotic voice usually heard with traditional text-to-speech programs. April Kerner types what she wants to say with her eyes and the program generates a voice.
The program isn’t perfect; for example, the cadence of the voice replica is a bit slow, according to the Kerners. However, it is the closest thing they’ve heard to her original voice.
“It’s amazing. It’s her actual voice,” Bill Kerner said. “We never thought we’d hear her actual voice again. It means a lot. … It gave us part of her that this horrible disease took away from her that we never thought would be again and, for that, we’re so grateful.”
The Kerners said their children love hearing April’s AI voice communicate with them and read them bedtime stories.
“They love it. The first time that they heard mommy’s voice again, they all started jumping up and down … when they heard her, and they got excited,” Bill Kerner said. “And the stories that she does, the kids love it. They gather around. We have story time. They get excited.”
April said being able to tell bedtime stories to her children is also her favorite part of her AI voice.
“I can no longer sit and read a regular book to the kids, so this is a way for us to connect,” she said.
Bill Kerner added that one of the things that bothers his wife the most is the lack of mobility, including not being able to hug her children without help, but the AI voice has given her back some independence.
April Kerner is currently on a ventilator and has a feeding tube, which she says makes every day a challenge. However, she is hopeful that by sharing her story, she can spread the word about ALS and its debilitating effects.
“Despite the difficulties I face, I am determined to keep fighting for my family and be there for my children,” she said. “They are my motivation to keep pushing forward, even on the hardest days.”
The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of ABC News, this ABC station and is an investor in ElevenLabs.
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