An end to nosey phone calls?

Talking on the phone

Any business person knows that technology such as the mobile phone is paramount when away from the office, so that they can still be contactable. Unfortunately for some, this means the bane of hearing people talking loudly on their phone, but there could be a solution for this.

Researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have shown off technology at the Cebit electronics fair in Germany, which could stop people talking loudly into their mobile phones, allowing people to conduct silent conversations.

The technology measures the tiny electrical signals produced by muscles used when someone speaks. The device can record these pulses even when a person does not audibly utter any words and use them to generate synthesised speech in another handset.

"I was taking the train and the person sitting next to me was constantly chatting and I thought 'I need to change this'," Professor Tanja Shultz of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology told BBC News. "We call it silent communication."

Electromyography

The device relies on a technique called electromyography. This technique detects the electrical signals from muscles. It is commonly used to diagnose certain diseases, including those that involve nerve damage.

The prototype currently on display in Germany uses nine electrodes that are stuck to a user's face. Professor Shultz explained, "These capture the electrical potentials that result from you moving your articulatory muscles. Those are the muscles that you need in order to produce speech."

The electrical pulses are then passed to a device which records and amplifies them before transmitting the signal via bluetooth to a laptop. Then software translates the signals into text, which can then be spoken by a synthesiser.

The future

Professor Shultz, said that in the future, the technology could be packed in a mobile phone. "We know this is not appealing for mass market use at the moment."

However, she added, it could be initially used to help people who have lost their voice due to illness or accident. It could also form the basis of an instant translation system, she said. "You could speak in your mother tongue and the text could be translated into another language," she added.

"The person that you are communicating with would then hear the synthesised voice in the other language."

Jodie Humphries

Jodie Humphries graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA Hons in Creative Writing in 2008. She has worked for GDS Publishing for the digital group since July 2009. She has previous experience with writing for the web, running her own website since April 2007.

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