Sam Smith is using a voice app like ''Stephen Hawking's'' with a female voice, to communicate following his vocal cord surgery, producer Jimmy Napes has revealed. Smith downloaded the software so he can still speak to his friends and family while he can't use his voice for the next few weeks as he recovers from the corrective voice surgery he had in the US. His producer Jimmy Napes revealed his friend is temporarily using a lady's digital voice and has assured Smith's fans he's ''doing well''. The music maker - who helped write the Grammy Award winning hit Stay With Me - told BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat:''He's doing well, he's resting up. He's got an app that speaks for him and it's like Stephen Hawking, where you type something in, except it's in a girls' voice - which is hilarious.'' Napes - who has also worked with Clean Bandit, Mary J. Blige and Disclosure - claims there may even be some samples of the female app voice on Sam's next album. He laughed: ''It might be a little outtake on the new album.'' Smith's surgery was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital by Dr. Steven Zeitels, who has also treated Adele, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Lionel Richie in the past...