Cell Phones That Learn the Sounds of Your Life

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at Dartmouth College have developed new software that uses the microphone on the iPhone to track and interpret a user's everyday activities using sound. The software, called SoundSense, picks up sounds and tries to classify them into certain categories. SoundSense can recognize completely unfamiliar sounds and runs entirely on the phone. It automatically classifies sounds as 'voice,' 'music,' or 'ambient noise.' If a sound is repeated often enough or for long enough, SoundSense gives it a high 'sound rank' and asks the user to confirm that it is a significant sound and offers the option to label the sound. In testing, the SoundSense software was able to correctly determine when the user was in a particular coffee shop, walking outside, brushing her teeth, cycling, and driving in the car. It also picked up the noise of an ATM and a fan in a particular room. The results [PDF] of the experiments were recently presented at the MobiSys 2009 conference."

Comments

Privacy

[sopssa]

For those of us who dont want to pay for it, dont worry! Next year the goverment will install it to your phone for free!

Re:Privacy

[Anonymous Coward]

US consumers are safe for next 10 years though: even the government won't be able to force telcos to activate a new feature.

Re:Privacy

[hattig]

Why not?

Your bill can now have:

"Federal Government Location Audio Sensing Fee : $4.99"

on it.

Re:Privacy

[davester666]

That was the sound of you shooting someone. For a monthly charge of $500 on your cell-phone bill, the phone won't call the police. Accept the charge?

Yes No

new and improved ways to tweet your life

[ilblissli]

so in other words this will effectively let me tweet when i'm pooping without having to type it up on my phone. it may also be handy finding out if people have washed their hands after such an event ;)

ob. Clippy

[RobertB-DC]

"It sounds like you're going pee."

Then, if male: "Please, remember that there are ladies in the house, and put the seat down when you're done."
Else, if female: "If you're out of toilet paper again, I can call your sister to bring it to you."

Social networking?

[Ambitwistor]

From TFA:

"The SoundSense software was able to correctly determine when the user was [...] brushing her teeth [...] Choudhury says that enabling the software to learn to recognize new sounds will be essential for practical applications. 'A system that can recognize sounds in a person's life can be used to search for others who have the same preferences'"

That sounds like great functionality. " If you like brushing your teeth, you may be interested to know that 21 out of 23 people on your Contacts list also enjoy brushing their teeth."

Just What Slashdotters Needed

[Anonymous Coward]

Finally, an app that can automatically record how many times a day we were rejected by women. It should be called iGiveUp and have an icon of a geek with a gun in his mouth.

Clippy!

[Anonymous Coward]

It sounds like you are having trouble reaching orgasm. Would you like me to
1) Moan real loud
2) Show erotic video
3) or, just vibrate

Beano Ads?

[c0d3r]

So if you fart a lot you'd get beano ads on your iPhone?

Re:Beano Ads?

[Green Salad]

The EPA bills you for climate change.

Re:Oh great....

[Green Salad]

Like I really my phone to tell me my wife is bitching at me...

That's better than telling her you believe she's bitching at you!

Just point to the phone's labeling, smile and shrug helplessly.