AI Clears Amelia Earhart's Voice For First Time In History

Scientists have applied artificial intelligence to a vintage recording of Amelia Earhart, rendering her voice clearer than anyone has heard before. This clip first aired in 1935 and captures a speech the pilot gave on radio regarding women's roles in science. Her words were always intelligible, yet the audio suffered from muffled sound and constant background noise. A new AI tool named Diffio now strips away much of that static and distortion. The result makes it sound as if Earhart is speaking directly into a modern microphone. This offers one of the clearest listens ever to the pioneering aviator's voice. It was recorded just two years before she vanished on one of the final legs of her circumnavigational flight around the globe.

Nathanael Harmon, founder of Diffio, explained that history feels different when you can hear someone speak. He noted this is a chance to hear the person behind the photographs and the extraordinary story. Making these recordings easier to listen to helps future generations connect with people they have only read about in books or newspapers. Earhart wanted to be the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe, a goal she pursued until her final flight.

In that 1935 radio address, she argued that women had benefited more than almost any other group from advances in science and technology. She claimed these advances reduced the drudgery of domestic life and gave women greater independence. The AI restoration tool isolated and rebuilt the voice to transform crackly historic audio into something sounding far closer to a modern recording. In the improved clip, Earhart can clearly be heard saying profound words about scientific achievements in the home. She stated that changing conditions there made women the greatest beneficiaries in the modern scheme of things.

She went on to highlight aviation as one of the most dramatic achievements of modern science. She described flight as a field where women played an important role. Just two years later, on July 2, 1937, her final fatal flight departed Lae Airfield in Papua New Guinea. She and navigator Fred Noonan headed east with Howland Island as their destination. That trip spanned 2,556 miles. Both were communicating with a nearby Coast Guard ship, the USCGC Itasca, before their plane lost contact.

In the last in-flight radio message heard by Itasca, Earhart said they were on line 157 337. They were running on line north and south. The numbers referred to compass headings of 157 degrees and 337 degrees. These described a line passing through their intended destination. A popular theory is that the plane crashed into the sea when it ran out of fuel and then sank. Both Earhart and Noonan were either instantly killed upon impact or unable to get out and drowned, according to this view.

The tragic loss has spawned more fantastical theories over the decades. Some claim they were eaten by crabs or imprisoned by the Japanese. It is generally agreed that the wreckage lies beneath the waves near the planned destination Howland Island. Another theory places it on Nikumaroro, an island about 350 miles south-east of Howland. We still search for answers while listening to her voice again.