Maloth Rajashekar
E.I.E
What it is……..?
 It is a technology that helps you to transmit
information without using your vocal cords.
 This technology aims to notice lip movements &
transform them into a computer generated sound
that can be transmitted over a phone.
 Hence person on other end of phone receives the
information in audio.
ORIGINATION
 Humans are capable of producing and understanding
whispered speech in quiet environments at remarkably low
signal levels. Most people can also understand a few unspoken
words by lip-reading
 The idea of interpreting silent speech electronically or with a
computer has been around for a long time, and was popularized
in the 1968 Stanley Kubrick science-fiction film ‘‘2001 – A Space
Odyssey”
 A major focal point was the DARPA Advanced Speech Encoding
Program (ASE) of the early 2000’s, which funded research on low
bit rate speech synthesis ‘‘with acceptable intelligibility, quality,
and aural speaker recognizability in acoustically harsh
environments”,
Recent events
 This year at Cebit, one of the largest trade fair, a new
concept called “ SILENT SOUND TECHNOLOGY “
was demonstrated.
 This technology is being developed by scientists of
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology ( KIT ), Germany.
hOW WE sPEaK……….?
 When we generally speak aloud, air passes through
larynx & the tongue. Words are produced using
articulator muscle in the mouth & jaw region.
 Now imagine a technology that could allow
everyone to make phone calls, and talk, without
making a sound….. Serene, peaceful & heavenly.
 Recently, its proved that the articulator muscle become
active irrespective of whether air passes through them or
not.
 Even by saying words without producing sound, weak
electric currents are sent from your brain to the speech
muscle.
 These electrical signals are known as
ELECTROMYOGRAMS.
ELECTROMYOGRAPHY
 It is a technique which monitors tiny muscular
movements and pulses generated by it . The
transducers involved converts the pulses into electric
signals .
 Electromyographic sensors attached to the
face records the electric signals produced
by the facial muscles, compare them with
pre recorded signal pattern of spoken
words .
 When there is a match that sound is transmitted on
to the other end of the line and person at the other
end listen to the spoken words
Surface electromyography
(sEMG) based speech recognition
Surface ElectroMyoGraphy (sEMG) is the process of
recording electrical muscle activity captured by surface
(i.e., non-implanted) electrodes. When a muscle fiber is
activated by the central nervous system, small electrical
currents in the form of ion flows are generated. These
electrical currents move through the body tissue, whose
resistance creates potential differences which can be
measured between different regions on the body surface.
SILENT SPEECH INTERFACES
IN INTERFACEING WE USE FOUR DIFFERENT
KIND OF TRANSDUCERS
 Vibration sensors
 Pressure sensor
 Electromagnetic sensor
 Motion sensor
APPLICATION
 As we know in space there is no medium for sound to
travel therefore this technology can be best utilised by
astronauts.
 We can make silent calls even if we are standing in a
crowded place.
 This technology is helpful for people without vocal
cord or those who are suffering from Aphasia
(speaking disorder ).
 This technology can be used for communication in
nasty environment.
 To tell a secret PIN no. , or credit card no. on the phone
now be easy as there is no one eavesdrop anymore.
 Since the electrical signals are universal they can be
translated into any language. Native speakers can
translate it before sending it to the other side. Hence
it can be converted into any languageof choice
currently being German, English & French.
RESTRICTIONS
 Translation into majority of languages but for languages
such as Chinese different tone holds different meaning,
facial movements being the same. Hence this technology is
difficult to apply in such situations.
 From security point of view recognising who you are
talking to gets complicated.
 Even differentiating between people and emotions cannot
be done. This means you will always feel you are talking to
a robot.
 This device presently needs nine leads to be attached to our
face which is quite impractical to make it usable.
FUTURE PROSPECTS
 Silent sound technology gives way to a bright future to
speech recognition technology from simple voice
commands to memorandum dictated over the phone
all this is fairly possible in noisy public places.
 Without having electrodes hanging all around your
face, these electrodes will be incorporated into
cellphones .
 It may have features like lip reading based on image
recognition & processing rather than
electromyography.
 Nano technology will be a mentionable step towards
making the device handy.
CONCLUSION
 Engineers claim that the device is working with 99
percent efficiency.
 It is difficult to compare SSI technologies directly in a
meaningful way. Since many of the systems are still
preliminary, it would not make sense, for example, to
compare speech recognition scores or synthesis quality
at this stage.
 With a few abstractions, however, it is possible to shed
light on the range of applicability and the potential for
future commercialization of the different methods.
THANK YOU