Digital Legacy
Why You Should Record Your Voice Today
When someone we love dies, a lot usually remains: photos, letters, perhaps a few voice messages. But many people say the same thing – the voice fades surprisingly quickly. The way someone laughed, the way they said “Hey, you” on the phone. Anyone who still has a recording treasures it.
A voice is more than words
A voice carries so much that no photo can show: warmth, humour, impatience, the accent of home, the little pauses before a punchline. A sentence like “Take care of yourself” sounds different from every person – and it is exactly this sound that loved ones miss later on.
Yet we hardly ever record our own voice on purpose. We photograph food, sunsets and beaches. But a calm recording in which we simply talk about who we are? That is almost always missing.
What is possible today – and what is coming
Today, computers can recreate a voice from recordings. Photos and videos can be turned into three-dimensional models of a person. So it is conceivable that one day your loved ones could have a phone call with a voice that sounds like you, or sit across from you in a virtual world.
Not everyone wants that – some find the idea comforting, others find it strange. Both are fine. What matters is something else: the technology can come later, the recordings cannot. If you record today, you keep every option open.
Capture different stages of life
A person sounds different at 30 than at 70, and looks different too. That is why it is worth recording not just once, but again every few years. This creates an archive in which a person can be experienced at many ages.
This way an AI can later recreate the version that fits: someone who knew their grandmother as a grandmother meets her as she sounded in her later years – and may also get to know the young woman she once was. Old photos from earlier decades belong in it too, ideally with the year they were taken.
How to make good recordings
For your voice:
- A quiet room without echo or background noise.
- Hold the phone about 20 centimetres from your mouth.
- Speak normally – not like a radio announcer.
- Record a variety: read a text aloud, tell stories freely, laugh, say typical phrases and greetings such as “Hello, my darling”.
- Say the names of your loved ones too – the way you call them in everyday life.
For your appearance:
- Full-body photos from the front, the side, the back and at an angle.
- Your face from the front and from the side.
- A bright, plain background and even light, with clothing that is as close-fitting as possible.
- Ideally, someone else takes the photos.
- Optionally, a short video in which you slowly turn around once – this helps especially for later 3D models.
Your voice belongs to you
Wherever voices can be recreated, there is unfortunately also misuse: scammers try to obtain money on the phone with fake voices. So: recordings of your voice do not belong on the public internet. Keep them in a way that nobody else can access them.
How Perrenix helps
In the Perrenix app there is a section called “Voice & Appearance” in the Legacy tab:
- Guided voice recordings: a reading text of two to three minutes, two questions for speaking freely, and typical phrases.
- Photos and 360° video: step by step, with tips on light and background.
- Earlier years: old photos can be added with the year they were taken.
- Date and age: every recording is saved with its date and – if you have entered your year of birth – your age.
- Raw material only: apart from you, nobody will hear or see your recordings – not even your loved ones. They are meant solely for a future AI, not for social media. So you don’t have to perform or polish anything.
- One photo per year: each view gets one photo per year. Over the years this builds a series, so the AI knows you at every age.
- Later: AI recreations are meant only for friends and family and are always labelled as AI.
- Your decision: you give a separate consent, can withdraw it at any time and delete everything.
Three questions to think about
- Whose voice would you love to hear once more?
- Which phrases do you say so often that your loved ones immediately connect them with you?
- At what age would you like people to get to know you later?