ElevenLabs<\/a> uses AI to clone voices, replacing the robot sound. It even creates emotion in each word. The trouble is that Francoeur needed enough clear audio from before he started losing his voice, and they couldn\u2019t find any old recordings.<\/p>\nBut WCAX did. The Channel 3 News featured the couple in a \u201cMade in Vermont\u201d story 14 years ago. At the time, Francoeur made spinning wheels, seven years before ALS stole his voice.<\/p>\n
The footage takes the couple back to another time. \u201cI think more than anything, it\u2019s just to see Paul walking and talking… using tools. It\u2019s amazing to see. I miss all that. He misses all that,\u201d Kris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo remember…\u201d Francoeur said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to remember back to that level of physical freedom,\u201d Kris said.<\/p>\n
But in a couple of months, that WCAX story would give Francoeur back the voice he thought he\u2019d lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you. Thank you to the team at WCAX News,\u201d said Richard Cave with ElevenLabs, which was able to use 16 seconds of sound from Paul in that 2012 story to mirror his voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve done here is use AI for good, to enable people to recreate their natural voice,\u201d Cave said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe voice that will come out of the computer will sound like him,\u201d Kris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike me,\u201d added Francoeur.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis disease robs people of so much of their lives,\u201d said Dr. Mark Garret, who runs the ALS clinic at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and is also Francoeur\u2019s doctor. \u201cWhen speech really becomes affected by ALS, it\u2019s one of the things that most profoundly impacts quality of life.\u201d <\/p>\n
Garret calls the couple inspirational for making the most of the time Francoeur has left, and is touched by their advocacy for others living with ALS. \u201cI think Paul, the way he confronted a terrible prognosis and a terrible disease and made the best of life throughout all of that has been extraordinary,\u201d Garret said. And, he says, it may be part of the reason that he has survived so long after the diagnosis. Typically, ALS patients live two to five years. Francoeur is on year eight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have too much to live for,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have too much to live for. Yeah,\u201d Kris agreed.<\/p>\n
The day finally arrives when Francoeur\u2019s new, old voice arrives. \u201cI\u2019ve been looking forward to this for weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no idea how close it\u2019s going to be,\u201d said Celina Fuller, his home health speech therapist, who helps with the setup. \u201cPart of what makes you dynamic is your speech and voice.\u201d <\/p>\n
Francoeur\u2019s first words through the new technology are a thank-you message and raising awareness about ALS. \u201cVermont has the highest rate per capita than any state in the country,\u201d he said, the cloned voice a perfect match.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat does sound just like you,\u201d Fuller said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMade me feel more human,\u201d Francoeur said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve heard Paul\u2019s voice,\u201d Kris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou won\u2019t be able to stop me now. Haha,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n
His next big speech is for his grandkids, who\u2019ve never heard his real voice. \u201cThe next time I see the grandkids, I can tell them I love them with actual emotion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Francoeur will now work with his speech therapist on efficiency, shortcuts, and pre-programming phrases he says often, like \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Francoeur got to give the grandkids that message earlier this month. \u201cHi Rowan, Shay, and Sora. The big reason grandpa wanted to get the new voice was so that you could hear what it was like before he got sick. I love you more than I can tell you,\u201d Francoeur said.<\/p>\n
ElevenLabs offers the voice cloning technology to ALS patients for free. The organization Bridging Voices<\/a> helps families connect with the company. <\/p>\nFrancoeur is also taking part in a clinical trial on a new drug. It could be years before it comes to market. He knows it won\u2019t help him, but he hopes it will help other people with ALS in the future.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WCAX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEICESTER, Vt. (WCAX) – ALS, often called Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease, is a cruel illness. There is no cure,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,28463,25,28465,968,28464,66,17360,2184,14191,28462,28461],"class_list":["post-47585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-ai","tag-als","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-bridging-voices","tag-elevenlabs","tag-lou-gehrigs-disease","tag-news","tag-speech","tag-vermont","tag-voice","tag-vt","tag-wcax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}