Does the Voice Have a Body? Esposito’s Vox Munus in an Age of Synthetic Voice

This article examines the relationship between voice, embodiment, and community by extending Roberto Esposito’s concepts of munus, communitas, and immunitas to the domain of voice. While voice is often treated as a bodily capacity and marker of individual authenticity, contemporary voice technologies, including brain/computer interfaces, AI-generated voices, and deepfake audio, destabilise this assumption. The article proposes Vox Munus as a conceptual framework for understanding voice as a shared obligation rather than private property. Through analyses of assistive speech technologies and synthetic media, it argues that voice technologies simultaneously enable inclusion and generate new ethical risks, reframing voice as a site where communal responsibility, trust, and governance are negotiated.