ElevenLabs Offers Free Voice Restoration in Spain

People with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in Spain can now get a free digital copy of their own voice. ElevenLabs, the voice AI company, said on 28 October that it has partnered with adELA (Asociación Española de Esclerosis Lateral Amiotrófica), which it calls Spain’s leading ALS association, to give patients across the country free access to its voice restoration technology.

The company describes the scheme in a blog post as the first Spanish initiative under the ElevenLabs Impact Program. It also says Spain is the first country where the technology is available through a national patient association. People living with ALS in Spain apply for access through adELA. The partnership was announced by ElevenLabs on its blog and on X; adELA had not published its own statement on its website or X account by mid-morning on 28 October.

In brief

ElevenLabs and adELA will give people with ALS in Spain free access to voice restoration, applied for through adELA.
Patients can record new samples or, if their speech has already changed, upload old recordings.
ElevenLabs estimates 4,000 to 4,500 people in Spain live with ALS; take-up and cost have not been disclosed.

How the voice is rebuilt

ElevenLabs says eligible people diagnosed with ALS can create their digital voice in one of two ways. Those whose speech has not yet changed much can record new samples. Those whose voice has already weakened can upload old recordings instead. The aim, the company says, is that people can keep talking with family, friends and carers in a voice that sounds like them.

The blog centres on Aníbal Martín, a longtime engineer in the aviation industry who also teaches programming just outside Madrid. He noticed problems with his leg on a summer holiday and was later diagnosed with ALS. He can still speak, but his voice has started to fade, and he noticed the change in the lessons he records and the audio messages he sends his students. With ElevenLabs he has made a digital version of his voice, so that he can keep teaching if he loses it.

“Being able to hear my own voice means being able to remain myself,” Martín said, according to ElevenLabs. He found the company through adELA, where he says a psychologist, physiotherapist and speech therapist helped him after his diagnosis. He has volunteered with the association since 2020.

Gabi Leibowitz, head of impact at ElevenLabs, said: “Voice is deeply tied to identity and how we connect with and contribute to the world.” She added that for people with permanent voice loss, the company has seen voice restoration “help protect dignity, autonomy, and the ability to keep participating in family, work, and society.”

Who it reaches

ElevenLabs puts the number of people living with ALS in Spain at an estimated 4,000 to 4,500, and says that for many the disease will lead to the loss of speech. adELA has supported people with ALS and their families for more than 30 years, offering specialist care, psychological support and social guidance, according to the blog.

The company has not said how many people it expects to sign up, or what the scheme costs it. Its general Impact Program terms, published in October 2025, give people with permanent voice loss a free, renewable five-year Pro licence, with no card details needed. ElevenLabs has not said whether the Spanish scheme uses the same terms.

Why a patient association is the gatekeeper

The detail that matters most is the route in. Until now, people with speech loss could apply to the Impact Program through a partner organisation covering their region and diagnosis. Making a national patient group the front door in Spain puts access where people with ALS already get care. adELA already works with patients after diagnosis, as it did with Martín, and that is often when the “record new samples” option is still open.

Timing is the real constraint. Voice cloning works best from clean recordings made before speech deteriorates. Baroness Campbell, who used an ElevenLabs recreation of her voice in the House of Lords on 13 October, could draw on old broadcast interviews. Most ALS patients will not have that archive, so an association that prompts them to record early may matter as much as the software itself.

There is a second reason a trusted gatekeeper helps. The same technology that rebuilds a patient’s voice can also be used to fake one: TSN reported this week that 28% of UK adults think voice-clone scammers targeted them in a year. An application process run through a known association gives some assurance that the person creating the voice is the person it belongs to. The quality of the voice itself rests on ElevenLabs’ models, which the company has been updating quickly, most recently with its Eleven Realtime speech models for voice agents.

What remains unclear

The announcement leaves several practical questions open: how eligibility is checked, whether the voices work with the communication devices that patients already use, and whether access lasts for life. ElevenLabs said in October that its voice restoration had reached more than 11,000 people worldwide. The next marker is adELA’s own account of the scheme and how many Spanish patients apply.