Silent Sound Technology
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where, no matter how much you blare on the phone, the receiver at the other end can never hear you. It may be a busy street, a crowded bus or even a late night party at the pub, the biggest issue while talking over the phone is one just can’t be loud enough. So does that mean you stop receiving any calls in a crowded place? (Image taken from http://wn.com)
For now this may seem to be the only probable solution to the problem, but a couple of years from now we would be communicating in the busiest and noisiest of locations one can find- thanks to something called as the silent sound technology. In the 2010 at the Centre for Office Automation, Information Technology and Telecommunication (CeBIT) – the world’s largest computer expo held in Hanover, Germany, the Silent Sound Technology caught the attention of a lot of software techs and gadget gurus from all over the world. With this latest feat in technology, you can communicate on your mobile device in the loudest and most chaotic area as possible without any trouble.
The technology, developed by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) uses electromyography (technique that records and evaluates electric activity in the skeletal muscles) to monitor minute muscle movements that come about when you speak. This is then converted to electrical pulse that can be further converted to audible speech.
The uses of this technology are immense for instance it can help people who have been rendered mute due to illness or accident. This Silent Sound Technology can also prove as a great tool to maintain secrecy and can be used to privately exchange messages of high confidentiality which may include sharing information like your pin number or credit card details saving you the worry of bothering about eves droppers.
Apart from its help to those who are vocally challenged and to ward off curious ears, the Silent sound technology can also be used to communicate in different languages (Much like the babel fish in the Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy). Although not for languages that are tone sensitive (like Mandarin), the translational technology can work for languages like English, French and German. According to the developers at KIT, the technology at the present stage is 99% accurate at recognizing and saying the correct word- which literally translates to the mechanical voice getting only one word wrong in every hundred.
Although this might be a brilliant leap forward in terms of mobile technology we couldn’t help but pick out a few quandaries about it
Questions that may probably arise
- How well will the technology adapt to different accents and facial gestures, i.e. a British accent is very different from an American and so is the Indian accent. As we all know how frustrating it can get to activate simple voice recognition on any gadget like a computer or mobile phone.
- With gesturing each word clearly, the productivity and efficiency of the call may also be hampered, i.e. one might take much longer to convey a simple set of instructions or a statement which may get very frustrating.
- Silent sound technology may solve the issue of speaking in a crowded place but what about listening to person in a crowded place where one cannot possibly phase out the noise around.
- And finally wouldn’t it look rather funny as people silently mimic what they are trying to say without uttering a single word say in a bus or a train.
Never the less the Silent Sound Technology is something everybody will look forward to after reading this article.
Much appreciated for the information and share!
ReplyDelete