Extraordinary footage of Stephen Hawking speaking without use of his voice synthesizer has people blown away

Incredible footage of Stephen Hawking speaking without his voice synthesizer has resurfaced, and everyone is saying the same thing.

After the theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author was diagnosed with a slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease, he began to be slowly paralysed and ended up losing his ability to speak.

Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in 1963, with the incurable disease affecting the brain and nerves and eventually leading to death.

However, before using a synethizer, Hawking's ability to communicate was aided by interpreters. (Santi Visalli/ Getty Images)

Despite his diagnosis, Hawking - who passed away in 2018 aged 76 - continued his pioneering work in the area of theoretical physics, particularly surrounding black holes.

Unfortunately, his MND slowly began to impact his speech, causing him to slur his words, and by the late 1970s he had to have someone close to him help interpret what he said.

In 1985 he contracted pneumonia and had to undergo a tracheotomy to save his life but this triggered his adopting of a voice synthesizer - specifically the DECtalk voice synthesizer - to help communicate.

The DECtalk is technology which translates text to speech and was developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1983. Hawking was given a customized version.

A lot of people remember Hawking's voice as being the synthesized version however, footage has resurfaced online of Hawking giving an interview 'in the late 1970s' without the use of a synthesizer but with the help of an interpreter instead.

The video shows an old television broadcast of Hawking speaking about black hole theories, his speech repeated by a translator - one of his students at the time.

Many people probably member Stephen Hawking's voice as the voice aided by a synthesizer. (Bruno Vincent/ Getty Images)

In the clip he says: "You wouldn't see anything special if you passed inside the black hole.

"Once you pass a certain critical point, then you'd never be able to get back again no matter how much rocket power you used."

And people are flooding to social media upon hearing his voice pre-synthesizer use for the first time.

One YouTuber commented: "Stephen Hawking’s body may be a cage, but his brain wasn’t. He was able to reach not only other people, but myself, with his mere intellect, and not even his limits would stop him in his tracks. Absolute legend."

"It was nice to finally hear him speak," another added.

A third wrote: "Even with this man’s failing speech and the subtitles, you can kinda hear what he’s saying."

And the conversation has spilled out onto X too, with one X user writing: "I could still hear him clearly without the voice synthesizer."

"Such a brilliant mind," another added.

A third chimed: "He's an inspiration."

Topics: Celebrity, Reddit, Science, Social Media, Technology, Twitter, YouTube

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.