Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Researchers Convert Mouth Movements Into Speech

Posted by samzenpus on from the mouthing-of-the-future dept.

andylim writes "According to Cellular News, researchers at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have developed a method for mobile phones to convert silent mouth movements into speech. As recombu.com points out, the 'potential for secret conversations just got huge.' You could pass the time by making phone calls from the cinema without disturbing anyone. In noisy places like bars and clubs you could make yourself heard without having to shout."

37 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. tap-proof? by bwindle2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From TFA: "For the transmission of passwords and PINs, for example, users can change seamlessly to soundless language and, hence, transmit confidential information in a tap-proof manner." Um, not if there is a lip-reader in the same room, like a hearing-impaired person.

    1. Re:tap-proof? by Dice · · Score: 4, Interesting

      According to my ASL instructor, lip readers are rarely more than 50% accurate. Which makes me wonder about the alleged capabilities of this software, honestly.

    2. Re:tap-proof? by ScrewMaster · · Score: 3, Informative

      According to my ASL instructor, lip readers are rarely more than 50% accurate. Which makes me wonder about the alleged capabilities of this software, honestly.

      Hard to say. However, if you want true speaker-independent language recognition ... well, even using voice it's only so-so. On the other hand, if what you want is the ability to issue commands to the computer using a much more limited vocabulary, I'd think you'd have more potential.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    3. Re:tap-proof? by techno-vampire · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I have some hearing loss, and went to a seminar at the VA once about adapting. I don't know how good lip readers get, but for me, at least, it's mostly useful if I have an idea what's being said and just need to fill in bits that I didn't quite catch. I suspect that this will need at least some training with the user, just like voice recognition software does, and that it's going to be a long time before it's good with anything but a very limited vocabulary.

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    4. Re:tap-proof? by Jhon · · Score: 2, Interesting

      According to my ASL instructor, lip readers are rarely more than 50% accurate. Which makes me wonder about the alleged capabilities of this software, honestly.

      You might want to look at this.

      I don't think this technology is THAT new... or that it's that inaccurate.

      On a side note, I'm hearing impaired (car engine exploded a bit too close to my head). I *CAN* hear -- and that supplements the lip reading I *DO* do... and asking my friend who is totally deaf (and on AIM as I type this), I think that 50% estimate is way low...

    5. Re:tap-proof? by Chapter80 · · Score: 2, Funny

      According to my ASL instructor, lip readers are rarely more than 50% accurate. Which makes me wonder about the alleged capabilities of this software, honestly.

      Chat room evidence backs this stat up:

      Anytime you asked A/S/L, chances are less than 50% the answer is accurate.

  2. Ok, try this one by Brett+Buck · · Score: 3, Funny

    I said VACUUM!

    1. Re:Ok, try this one by tverbeek · · Score: 2, Funny

      I would hate this feature, specifically because I find it beneficial to my mental health to be able to mouth things without the person on the phone knowing it. Silently shouting "oh shut up you drooling idiot" when I receive support calls from people who can't find the "any" key is my only socially acceptable outlet for this frustration.

      --
      http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  3. Ja by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Aber Ich kann nicht Deutsch gesprechen.

    1. Re:Ja by djupedal · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...read my lips....and don't ignore the middle finger waving in your face!

  4. It begins by Quackers_McDuck · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dave Bowman: Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL?
    HAL: Affirmative, Dave. I read you.
    Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
    HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
    Dave Bowman: What's the problem?
    HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
    Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL?
    HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
    Dave Bowman: I don't know what you're talking about, HAL.
    HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen.
    Dave Bowman: Where the hell'd you get that idea, HAL?
    HAL: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
    Dave Bowman: Alright, HAL. I'll go in through the emergency airlock.
    HAL: Without your space helmet, Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult.
    Dave Bowman: HAL, I won't argue with you anymore. Open the doors.
    HAL: Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.

    1. Re:It begins by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Funny

      HAL: Without your space helmet, Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult.

      Best musical comedy ever.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    2. Re:It begins by Nick+Number · · Score: 2, Funny

      I read the name as david bowie (sleep deprivation is awesome) I kept waiting for the punchline

      HAL: Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare.
      David Bowie: I'm stepping through the door, and I'm floating in the most peculiar way.

      --
      Promote proofreading. Don't mod up sloppy posts.
  5. I'm coulrophobic, you insentive clod! by zill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's been almost a decade since hands-free headsets reached the market and its users still creep me out.

    I don't think I can ever get used to seeing the streets full of mimes.

  6. I wasn't buying it ... by GNUALMAFUERTE · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And I was just waiting for that sign, well hidden somewhere in the article, that this is just some beta concept that will stay as such forever.

    And then I found the photo of two guys with shitloads of cables attached to their faces.

    There's a huge difference between "cellphones convert mouth movements into speech" and "Guy with shitloads of cables on his face tracks the movements of his mouth muscles using 4 unix servers running a processor intensive application with an accuracy of 25%"

    The whole thing has nothing to do with cellphones. It's just yet another muscle tracking system, but used on the mouth instead of the hands, and tied to a TTS engine.

    --
    WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
    1. Re:I wasn't buying it ... by Corporate+Drone · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And I was just waiting for that sign, well hidden somewhere in the article, that this is just some beta concept that will stay as such forever.

      And then I found the photo of two guys with shitloads of cables attached to their faces.

      There's a huge difference between "cellphones convert mouth movements into speech" and "Guy with shitloads of cables on his face tracks the movements of his mouth muscles using 4 unix servers running a processor intensive application with an accuracy of 25%"

      Yeah, you're right. We've never gone from a situation where we've had shitloads of hardware and cables, and been able to reduce that down to mobile devices. What were those researchers thinking? Dolts!

      (p.s., can you give a link to the "shitloads of face cables" story? Thanks!)

      --
      mmm... yeah... You see, we're putting the cover sheets on all TPS reports now before they go out...
    2. Re:I wasn't buying it ... by GNUALMAFUERTE · · Score: 2, Informative

      Here is the link: http://www.kit.edu/english/pi_2010_767.php

      It's right there in the article ...

      OTOH, off course we've been able to reduce the size and cabling of many inventions, but for others, it's impossible. Basically, when the technique itself involves cabling ...

      What I mean is: Sure, we've been able to reduce electrocardiograms from huge mechanical machines with shitloads of cables to small devices connected to a computer and only 5 cables, but it still involves connecting cables into your chest, and It most probably always will.

      This technique:

      a) Has nothing at all to do with cellphones. It's just one possible application.
      b) Involves and will always involve cables. Off course, we might develop OTHER techniques in the future that don't involve reading electrical signals on the body, but that'll be a whole different technology, maybe involving a camera and feature detection ...

      The fact that we can probably emulate something like this in OpenCV and maybe port it to the iphone is not the same as saying that this technique equals being able to use your cellphone without actually emitting sounds.

      --
      WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
  7. I want my phone call by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Tell me, Mr. Anderson... what good is a phone call... if you're unable to speak?

    1. Re:I want my phone call by zill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The Agent obviously knew about this device already. That's why he removed Neo's lips entirely.

      The machines are always one step ahead of us.

  8. Psssshhhttt. Losers. by The+Wild+Norseman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Any serious geek has one of these.

    --
    "A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
  9. Making phone calls at the movies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's dark in most cinemas. Will the phone contain a light to shine on your face to annoy the sucker behind you? People txting in theatres annoy me too.

    Honestly, I HATE it when submitters need to think of an example, and then come up with a shit one. You're better off with no example that thinking of the first crap that comes into your head!

  10. Cinema? by Barny · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You could pass the time by making phone calls from the cinema without disturbing anyone

    No, never and fuck off come to mind. Using a mobile phone in a cinema is one of the least considerate things anyone can do, they create light pollution distracting other patrons from what they are paying for and are absolutely not needed (the exception, emergency staff on call, and they usually just leave their phone on vibrate + silent) let alone any audible noise from them, can't you seriously just disconnect for an hour?

    In short, No.

    In long, Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo-ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-oooooooooooooooooooooooo :)

    Also in USA at least its illegal (federal law) to operate any video recording device in a cinema.

    yes, blatant ZP rip-off but its needed.

    --
    ...
    /me sighs
    1. Re:Cinema? by PPH · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Using a mobile phone in a cinema is one of the least considerate things anyone can do, they create light pollution

      One could make such a phone with a 'dark mode' and equip it with IR illuminators and camera.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  11. Old grade school trick... by HockeyPuck · · Score: 4, Funny

    I seem to recall that mouthing "vacuum" and "f*ck you" look the same.... ah the joys of being 10...

     

    1. Re:Old grade school trick... by evil_aar0n · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I had to lip-read for 13 years before I got my cochlear implant. If we were talking about such things as vacuums, I'd probably understand what you were saying. If it were just out of the blue, though, yeah, I might misunderstand and punch you for it. In fact, it was considered great fun to say things to me and have me repeat them as I understood them. "Pear pimples for hairy fishnuts?" Stuff like that.

      --
      Truth, Justice. Or the American Way.
  12. I Can Hear It Now by The+Wild+Norseman · · Score: 4, Funny



    Can you steer me how?

    Can you beer me cow?

    Clan ewe fear be now?

    </Stephen Hawking Voice>

    --
    "A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
  13. Impressive by SlappyBastard · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Especially when you consider the number of people who constantly move their mouths and say nothing.

    --
    I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
  14. You're missing the point by SlappyBastard · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Anytime a technology is a real turd with no use, the folks marketing it try to list as many uses as possible. It's like the ad for the GT Xpress 101 Countertop Grill, which can make omelettes, bake brownies, grill cheeseburgers, boil soup and starch your shirts.

    --
    I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
  15. Please Don't Open Your Phone in the Theater by Lucidus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Apparently, the writer at recombu.com is one of those annoying people who fail to recognize that, whether or not you make any sound, opening your phone in a movie theater is extremely disturbing to everyone sitting in the rows behind you. The glowing screen is like a beacon inside the darkened room.

    1. Re:Please Don't Open Your Phone in the Theater by deniable · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, but the light makes targeting easier.

  16. This sounds like work being done by NASA by jdb2 · · Score: 2, Informative

    NASA has been working on "sub-vocal" speech recognition wherein sensors pick up nerve impulses to various parts of the mouth and face but in this case all it requires is one to just *think* about speaking -- *no mouth movement.*

    Here are some previous /. stories on the matter :

    http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/18/0132222

    http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/10/1417250&tid=215&tid=14

    jdb2

  17. Re:non german/american performance? by deniable · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Try it with older people from the bush. They speak without opening their mouth to keep the flies out. Some move the lips but keep the teeth together.

  18. 15 years ago, with desktop workstations by BoydWaters · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Fifteen (!) years ago, I took a UC Extension class on Neural Networks taught by Stanford professor David Stork. He had developed a lip-reading system for communication in noisy environments, such as an airplane-repair facility. If you could do it 15 years ago with workstation-class desktops, I suppose you could do it with a smartphone today.

  19. Other uses by NewsWatcher · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "In noisy places like bars and clubs you could make yourself heard without having to shout."

    Or more likely, used by men in conjunction with Babel Fish to chat-up women who don't speak English.

    --
    If the pattern goes 9am, 10am, 11am, why isn't noon 12am?
  20. No you can't phone from the cinema by innocent_white_lamb · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You could pass the time by making phone calls from the cinema without disturbing anyone.
     
    NO!
     
    It's not only the noise that you make talking; it's also the light from the phone.

    --
    If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
  21. Passing the time? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You could pass the time by making phone calls from the cinema

    I've always thought that the best way to pass the time in a cinema is to watch the fucking movie.

  22. Re:non german/american performance? by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Funny

    So if they went into politics they'd be lying through their teeth?

    (sorry, couldn't resist)

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.