There seems to be a big debate currently going on: whether or not would there be a technology that will “do something” to reduce noise pollution while talking over the phone? An answer to that problem question is now being given - or rather soon going to be addressed - when we have a new device working at precisely that problem!
Talking over the mobile phone - when you are in a movie theatre or crowded marketplace or in a bus, etc. where there is a lot of noise pollution - is really becoming a tough task to deal with; especially when there is a cacophony of unwanted sound filtering into your handset. One ends up 'shouting' rather than 'talking' on the mobile phone. While one may consider this to be something to be put up with no matter how advanced one's phone is or how expensive its look and feel are. But thank God no more, because a new technology device which is soon going to be coming to our rescue is being readied. A new technology which is simply called “Silent Sounds” eliminates sound by transforming lip movements into a computer-generated voice for the listener at the other end of the phone.
The new device which has been developed by Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is being braced up for effective usage on mobile phones (or any other related handsets) based on its monitoring capacity to detect tiny muscle movements of our lips when we speak and convert them into electrical pulses that can be turned into speech, without a sound uttered. Well, this may sound a little too far-fetched but it is definitely true. The device uses the concept of “electromyography”; it is a technique that evaluates and records the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles.
So you simply have to move your lips to make an appropriate sound as this device catches your lip movements and converts those movements into sound speech and transmits it across to the other end of the line. Yes, your handset - after you have installed this device - would become more intelligent as if reading your lips, literally!
This exciting technology is going to transform our day-to-day activities. For instance, if you have to say the PIN no. to your trusted friend then you can give the confidential nos. right over the phone without having to worry about others in the vicinity eavesdropping on your conversation. While you are giving him your PIN no., you don't have to utter a word or say it aloud. Yes, you simply have to move your lips without making any actual sound and then the information is transmitted at the other end as actual sound; really easily, with hardly any effort at all!
At present, the translation technology works well with the languages such as English, German and French. It seems that the Chinese language which has many tones that mean different things is springing a problem.
The technologists are currently working on this supposedly new technology device and are in the process of overcoming all technical glitches that are present now. They say that it will come into proper usage in maybe 5 or 10 years' time and not earlier than that. But whenever it comes about, it is for sure that the new piece of technology (based on electromyography) is soon going to transform the way we communicate on our mobile phones.
Viola!
By Arindam Moulick
Talking over the mobile phone - when you are in a movie theatre or crowded marketplace or in a bus, etc. where there is a lot of noise pollution - is really becoming a tough task to deal with; especially when there is a cacophony of unwanted sound filtering into your handset. One ends up 'shouting' rather than 'talking' on the mobile phone. While one may consider this to be something to be put up with no matter how advanced one's phone is or how expensive its look and feel are. But thank God no more, because a new technology device which is soon going to be coming to our rescue is being readied. A new technology which is simply called “Silent Sounds” eliminates sound by transforming lip movements into a computer-generated voice for the listener at the other end of the phone.
The new device which has been developed by Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is being braced up for effective usage on mobile phones (or any other related handsets) based on its monitoring capacity to detect tiny muscle movements of our lips when we speak and convert them into electrical pulses that can be turned into speech, without a sound uttered. Well, this may sound a little too far-fetched but it is definitely true. The device uses the concept of “electromyography”; it is a technique that evaluates and records the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles.
So you simply have to move your lips to make an appropriate sound as this device catches your lip movements and converts those movements into sound speech and transmits it across to the other end of the line. Yes, your handset - after you have installed this device - would become more intelligent as if reading your lips, literally!
This exciting technology is going to transform our day-to-day activities. For instance, if you have to say the PIN no. to your trusted friend then you can give the confidential nos. right over the phone without having to worry about others in the vicinity eavesdropping on your conversation. While you are giving him your PIN no., you don't have to utter a word or say it aloud. Yes, you simply have to move your lips without making any actual sound and then the information is transmitted at the other end as actual sound; really easily, with hardly any effort at all!
At present, the translation technology works well with the languages such as English, German and French. It seems that the Chinese language which has many tones that mean different things is springing a problem.
The technologists are currently working on this supposedly new technology device and are in the process of overcoming all technical glitches that are present now. They say that it will come into proper usage in maybe 5 or 10 years' time and not earlier than that. But whenever it comes about, it is for sure that the new piece of technology (based on electromyography) is soon going to transform the way we communicate on our mobile phones.
Viola!
By Arindam Moulick