Subvocal recognition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Subvocal recognition is the art of taking subvocalization and converting the detected results to a digital text-based output. It is similar to voice recognition except it is silent subvocalization being detected. It is a new technology being researched and developed at NASA's Ames Research Laboratory in Mountain View, California under the supervision of Charles Jorgensen.
A set of electrodes are attached to the skin of the throat and, without opening the mouth or uttering a sound, the words are recognized by a computer.
Subvocal speech recognition deals with electromyograms that are different for each speaker. Therefore, consistency can be thrown off just by the positioning of an electrode. To improve accuracy, researchers in this field are relying on statistical models that get better at pattern-matching the more times a subject "speaks" through the electrodes. But even then there are lapses. At Carnegie Mellon University, researchers found that the same "speaker" with accuracy rates of 94% one day can see that rate drop to 48% a day later. Between two different speakers it drops even more.
Relevant applications for his technology where audible speech is impossible: for astronauts, underwater Navy Seals, fighter pilots and emergency workers charging into loud, harsh environments. At the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachuestts, research is underway to utilize subvocal information as a control source for sophisticated computer music instruments.
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[edit] In fiction
In Speaker for the Dead and subsequent novels, author Orson Scott Card described a device implanted in the ear, called a "jewel", that allows the wearer to subvocally communicate with computer systems. Author Robert J. Sawyer made use of subvocal recognition to allow silent commands to the cybernetic 'companion implants' used by the advanced Neanderthal characters in his Neanderthal Parallax trilogy of science fiction novels. In Earth, David Brin depicts this technology and its uses as a normal gear in the near future.
[edit] References
Bluck, John. "NASA Press Release", NASA, March 17, 2004, pp. 1.
Armstrong, David. "The Silent Speaker", Forbes, April 10, 2006, pp. 1.
