Ever since 1997, Hawking’s computer-based communication system has been sponsored and provided by Intel Corporation. A tablet computer that is on the arm of his wheelchair is powered by his wheelchair batteries. The tablet has an internal battery that will keep it running if it is needed. Hawking uses a program called EZ Keys. This provides a keyboard on the screen. The cursor scans across the keyboard. Hawking can select a character by moving his check to stop the cursor. The cheek movement is detected by an infrared switch that is on his glasses. EZ Keys has a word predicting algorithm, so Hawking usually doesn’t have to type that many characters before he can select the full word. Once Hawking has made a sentence, he can send it to his speech synthesizer. This synthesizer is made by Speech++. This synthesizer gives Hawking an accent that people describe as Scandinavian, Scottish, or American.
            EZ Keys also allows Hawking to control his mouse when using Windows. Hawking can check his email by using the Eudora email client, surf the web using Firefox, and write lectures in Notepad. Hawking writes his lectures beforehand and saves it on a disc. He can send it to his speech synthesizer one sentence at a time using the Equalizer software. Intel has sponsored a team of its engineers to make a new facial recognition system to help improve Hawking’s communication speed.

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