IP: Scientists develop mobile phones that can lip-read

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Scientists develop mobile phones that can lip-read

Thursday, April 4, 2002 at 09:30 JST
LONDON ‹ Shouting down your mobile phone may become a thing of the past,
thanks to the latest gadget being developed by a Japanese company.

NTT DoCoMo Inc, a subsidiary of NTT Communications Corp, is working on the
world's first lip-reading telephone that could relieve the annoyance of loud
mobile phone conversations, New Scientist magazine reported on Wednesday.

"Although still some way off, the phone should put an end to users having to
shout down their handsets, even in noisy environments. All they have to do
is mouth their words silently, and the phone will convert them to speech or
text," according to the weekly magazine.

Engineers at NTT DoCoMo have developed a prototype and hope to have a
lip-reading mobile phone available in about five years.

Contact sensors near the mouthpiece in the phone detect tiny electrical
signals sent by muscles around the mouth. A speech synthesiser converts the
signals into spoken words or text for a message or email.

So far the phone can recognize vowels and engineers are now working on
consonants.

In addition to making public places quieter, the lip-reading phone could
also help people who have lost their voice. (Reuters News)

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&id=209610

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