distinctive voice is like getting something back that was stolen," John said.]]> diagnosed with ALS and more than six years since his voice had become unintelligible to everyone except his wife and youngest son.]]> organization at her school.]]> identities for people with speech disorders who rely on technology to communicate.]]> biomedical engineer said she was inspired to help someone speak and also fascinated by the technology and the ability to combine voices.]]> attracted more than 17,000 volunteers from 110 countries.]]> overwhelming, she said, with donors ages 6 to 91 logging on all over the world.]]> sample - usually six to 10 hours of recordings - from a voice donor, matched by age, sex and region.]]> simplify the process to build voices more cost-effectively and efficiently.]]> potential customers, which could include a middle-aged man from Alabama or a little girl from Ireland.]]> cancer or degenerative diseases such as ALS and could eventually receive voice help themselves.]]> developed her own method for blending voices and turned to crowdsourcing for help.]]> unique to them."]]> aide to act as his "voice" at school.]]> modifying the donor voice to reflect the qualities of the user's voice.]]>