SILENCESILENCE™'s founder, Arsène Lavaux, created our conversational AI voice cloning solution for his friend Richard Colantuono who lost his voice over a decade ago.
RICHARD COLANTUONO AND ARSÈNE LAVAUX SANTONACCI
SINCE 1984
Richard and Arsène became friends as they competed for the goalkeeping position in their youth soccer team in the south of France. It's 1984, the year the French national team won the European championship against Spain.
Richard had a very inclusive demeanor towards Arsène who was younger than him, yet showcased some promising goalkeeping skills. Instead of excluding him, Richard started inviting Arsène outside of soccer practices at his home to help him hone his skills.
"Richard had the most incredible lawn at his property between the little villages of Lambesc and Rognes in Provence. It was like training on a premier league stadium as kids. We trained for countless hours facing each other as goalkeepers. We improved so much as a result and our significant progress sealed our lifetime friendship." said Arsène in 2023.
Richard with his two sons Julien on the left and Johan on the right.
Life got in the middle as Richard and Arsène grew up, at age 15 Arsène played in the U17 French premier league, "Cadets Nationaux" but didn't pursue the professional career many thought he was destined to achieve.
Decades later, in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Arsène spots a social account with a familiar name, Richard's name. He decides to send him a private message.
Richard answers!
Richard and Arsène have just reconnected. They start typing back and forth a lot. At which point Arsène offers Richard to simply speak on the phone. Arsène is now in the U.S. and Richard in France.
Richard replies back to Arsène: "I wish we could talk on the phone. I can no longer talk Arsène. I lost my voice to ALS."
Arsène then found out that his friend Richard had been diagnosed with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. As a result, he had lost his voice back in 2005. Arsène was even touched deeper as he realized all the back and fourth direct messaging Richard and himself had done so far was the result of Richard's incredible skills typing words with his eyes.
Richard uses a special software that allows him to type text on his computer since his disease also took away his ability to type on a keyboard.
Arsène had to find a way to give Richard his voice back. SilenceSilence™ was born.
About us
The friendship story milestones of Richard and Arsène
Richard, now a leading fan of l'OM, the Olympique de Marseille soccer club in Marseille, winner of the 1993 European Champions League, was born in Aix-en-Provence, the city of impressionist artist, Paul Cézanne.
1973
2020
Richard and Arsène reconnect via private messaging over the social networks decades later. Arsène realizes Richard can no longer speak. He lost his voice to ALS. Arsène nurtures the dream to find a way to give his voice back to Richard. They keep texting every week. A lot of the texting is about their common goalkeeping passion and the latest on l'OM.
Arsène creates the next-generation SilenceSilence™ conversational AI voice cloning experience to give Richard his voice back.
2024
1984
Richard and Arsène become friends. They are both goalkeepers for the youth team of Lambesc. Lambesc is a small village in Provence, in the south of France. They train together a tireless number of hours at Richard's home to hone their goalkeeping skills. They seal a strong mutual respect and lifetime friendship doing so.