A new MIT-developed device called AlterEgo can "hear" the words you speak in your mind but don't say out-loud, and speak them for you. It's in a way reading your mind indirectly, and can also be used as an intelligence-augmentation (IA) device.
How does this crazy computer interface work? The device goes on your head, and electrodes detect neuromuscular signals in the jaw and face that we can't see but are present when we internally verbalize speech, which means words we say in our heads and not out-loud. These neuromuscular signals are then correlated with specific words through a machine-learning system.
The device can then take what you said internally and feed it back to your ear through headphones that transmit vibrations through the bones in your face. These aren't earphones, as they don't go in or on the ear, and allow normal sounds to continue to be heard.
This can be used to ask questions and receive answers silently. For example, a chess player can ask questions without his opponent knowing, then receive computer-generated responses as to the best move to make. This allows someone to augment the intelligence about a situation through computer-fed information. The computer further melds man and machine by becoming a part of the internal processes and extending cognition. A "second self" emerges as an alter-ego that speaks to you internally.
With this tech, you can avoid the socially-disruptive phubbing of smartphones, and still look things up while you are having conversations with others. Not only that, you can avoid putting in your phone passcode to do so. You can appear present to others, but still use technological services with your attention without others knowing you are.
The system has a 92% transcription accuracy when customized for 15 minutes to specific users neurophysiology and used for 90 minutes of testing. Like other transcription technology, the accuracy increases as more training data is fed into the program. The current device picks up on 7 key points along the jawline, but can likely be reduced to 4 electronodes to make it a less obtrusive wearable device.
Currently the device performs well in arithmetic and chess vocabulary, but the real-world applications will increase with greater expansion of vocabularies. Areas like air-traffic control with loud jet engines around can see this technology benefit as they internally vocalize and transmit data to the tower rather than radio it in verbally. Having difficulty hearing what the tower says is also illuminated when wearing ear protection, as the responses will be internalized an d not fed through the outer ear as with normal earphones.
Power plants, printing presses, construction, drilling, firefighting and other environments where people wear protective gear can also benefit from this tech. People with disabilities in speaking could also benefit. Of course, there are military application as well. Special-ops signals can be done through the AlterEgo rather than with hand signals that may not always be visible.
Here is the MIT video demonstrating the technology:
AlterEgo: Interfacing with devices through silent speech
What do you think about this new technology? It's currently visible, but maybe it could be made into an implant to detect neuromuscular signals instead, whereby people can cheat at games like chess, or students can cheat on their tests. You could be talking to someone and they could have a book being read to them, or listening to a sports game, without you even knowing it. Would that bother you?
References:
- Computer system transcribes words users 'speak silently'
- Arnav Kapur et al. AlterEgo, Proceedings of the 2018 Conference on Human Information Interaction&Retrieval - IUI '18 (2018). DOI: 10.1145/3172944.3172977
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