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University of Columbia Researchers Translate Brain Signals Directly Into Speech (columbia.edu)
dryriver writes: There is good news for people who have limited or no ability to speak, due to having suffered a stroke for example. Researchers at Columbia University have managed to turn brain signals in the auditory cortex of test subjects into somewhat intelligible speech using a vocoder-like system with audio output cleaned up by neural networks. The findings have been published in the journal Nature. Here's an excerpt from the Zuckerman Institute's press release, which contains example audio of a number sequence being turned into robotic speech: "In a scientific first, Columbia neuroengineers have created a system that translates thought into intelligible, recognizable speech. By monitoring someone's brain activity, the technology can reconstruct the words a person hears with unprecedented clarity. This breakthrough, which harnesses the power of speech synthesizers and artificial intelligence, could lead to new ways for computers to communicate directly with the brain. It also lays the groundwork for helping people who cannot speak, such as those living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or recovering from stroke, regain their ability to communicate with the outside world."
Seriously though, this is amazing.
Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
"Yes, I'd like to order a Big Mac BOOBS! Good Lord look at those boobs! Ummm, some fries and a My God those boobies are huge! Umm and diet coke. Damn, those of tig ass bitties!"
That's what every guy's brain is thinking.
I just hope the system has push to talk button...
Now they just have to figure out how Trump manages to generate speech while demonstrating no measurable brain activity.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Please note that while it seems like they cracked translating thought into speed, it is really about something very different. They decode what person is hearing into sound. This is very, very far from being able to interpret actual thoughts - they attach themselves to very early stage of hearing process, where things are still looking very much like sound waves. Additionally, it is tested on just 10 words (numbers from 0 to 9). On top of that, given neural nets are magic, I wouldn't be surprised if instead on brain activity, they focused on some measurement artifact, which is caused by skull vibrating to the sound, turning all that setup into overcomplicated and underperforming microphone. Sure, it is a worthy research, but it is light years away from thoughts to speech conversion.
So these are scientists living in Bogota? Those Columbian researchers are pretty amazing. Must be all that coffee.
#DeleteChrome
It doesn't translate your subconscious thoughts, just the vocalized region of the brain.
Unless you're schizophrenic, then I guess this makes sense.
Have they tried using this on a dog yet?
Here, clean speech was used as both the input and output of the system. The subjects listened to the speech, and the speech was the target, having being reconstructed with the brain activity. (This technique uses invasive electrocorticography; they happened to have some epileptics around to use as subjects)
The target was on the speech perception. Speech production would need to focus on another region of the brain (Maybe Broca's Area or straight to the motor cortex). The training data for speech production would be significantly different - no autoregression possible in that approach. It's an order of magnitude difference.
Still, it's the first step towards actual telepathy, so it's got that going for it, which is nice.
Frylock made one for Travis.
You never expect irony, do you?
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Be good for people in comas and the brain dead.
The question everyone wants the answer to: if you use it on Trump, would it say "hambudgers" or "build my wall"?
from TFA;
“In this scenario, if the wearer thinks ‘I need a glass of water,’ our system could take the brain signals generated by that thought, and turn them into synthesized, verbal speech,” said Dr. Mesgarani.
it clearly says it will vocalize what the brain is thinking. unless there is an easy way to turn that off/on i don't think anybody actually wants something like that.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
There will be much swearing.
It would be creepy as hell, but very cool, to get a recording of the voices schizophrenics hear.
xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
We hooked it up to Ariana Grande and it just keeps printing out "Need attention" over and over.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Ok. That's simply click-bait.
If you're able to turn thoughts into speech then you're able to record it. How soon until memories can be saved? Such as the Potterverse' Pensieve.
These advances are close to fantastical. And the world goes ho-hum.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
You laugh but this already is happening with eye trackers. Seriously, look on youtube for "fail" videos wherein people are judged for looking at a cute girl (or guy) in some other place besides their head. Pewdiepie for example.
My mind is mine, no one elses.
Governments will argue this can be used to detect criminal evidence. We need laws to stop this cold because it will be abused in dictatorships.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
That's what every guy's brain is thinking.
I'm a DICK gay guy DICK, you insensitive DICK clod!
Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
it clearly says it will vocalize what the brain is thinking. unless there is an easy way to turn that off/on i don't think anybody actually wants something like that.
Yeah - I think Ima let that thing miss me.
If someone asks me a question that indicates they weren't paying attention, I do think "You stupid fuck!", while in practice going back to what I said and re-pointing it out.
I pick up concepts quickly. When others don't, I might think "y'all are a little slow", while in practice I sit politely.
If an attractive woman walks into the room, I think thoughts for a moment that every heterosexual male would. In practice, I say "Hello, how are you today?"
Look on the bright side, #metoo will have a lot of new men to destroy.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
What if you have Tourettes syndrome
Fun fact: profanity comes from a different part of the brain from normal speech. That's why Tourettes can even exist. That part of the brain is, as much as we can reason between species, the part of the brain that other apes and monkeys use for warning vocalizations. Literally "oh shit it's a snake!"
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
It would be like the Belcerabons who were sentenced to telepathy. Everyone would have to go around talking continually about inane trivia.
> OHHH, YOU'RE VERY TALL AREN'T YOU?
>> YES I AM VERY TALL. LOVELY WEATHER TODAY ISN'T IT?
etc etc.
But scientists just announced a laser that can cause a person to hear words. Connect this gadget up to that laser (and maybe put it in a bionic eye) and boom, something not too different from telepathy.
I'm sure that people could be trained to defeat this technology for when it's used for interrogation purposes, but still: the Ultimate invasion of privacy, and the possibility of a new dark era of human history: thought crime.
It would be creepy as hell, but very cool, to get a recording of the voices schizophrenics hear.
Boy howdy would it. I have always been intrigued by Schizophrenic speech patterns. But to hear the voices in their heads alonng with them? Whoa!
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
"You shall now call me Snowball ..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waLxMl6K3zA
Where are my testicles Summer?
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
They would have collected a lot more data besides tip amounts.
mfwright@batnet.com
Thank you. I came here to post exactly that. "Columbia University" != "University of Columbia".