A soft "band-aid" will allow you to speak without a voice
Scientists from the USA have developed a device that, like a band-aid, attaches to a person's neck and reads muscle movements. It will help those who have lost their voice to speak.
Almost a third of people around the globe have lost their voice at least once in their lives due to serious diseases. In such a situation, as a rule, an operation (tracheo-esophageal bypass, during which a voice prosthesis is installed) or the use of special voice-forming devices is recommended. In the second case, a person applies a device to the neck under the cheekbone or chin, and it converts muscle movements into speech.
Both existing methods have disadvantages. If the patient is fitted with a prosthesis, it needs to be replaced once a year, which means regular surgical interventions, as well as daily cleaning. Voice-forming devices are non-invasive, but not always convenient to use: not only because the person has to constantly put the device on his neck, but also because it periodically discharges.
Scientists from the University of California at Los Angeles (USA) have developed a device that will be much more convenient for patients to use. It is a soft "patch", which itself is kept on a person's throat, reads the movements of the neck muscles and converts them into electrical signals. These, in turn, are turned into speech with the help of deep machine learning algorithms. Such a device does not need to be charged: it independently generates the energy necessary for normal operation.
The authors of the development tested it on eight volunteers without voice disorders. Men and women among them were equally divided, the average age of the study participants was 21 years old. The article, which describes the new device and the results of the tests, published the journal Nature Communications. To test the accuracy of the "patch," volunteers said aloud and whispered common phrases such as "Hi, how are you?", "Merry Christmas," "I don't believe you," or "I love you." They did this while standing, while walking, and while running. The device correctly converted the muscle movement into a speech signal 94.68% of the time.
After analyzing the test results, the scientists concluded that the new device is indeed more comfortable and effective than its predecessors. It weighs only seven grams, is more plastic, thanks to which it better recognizes muscle movements, quickly (within 40 microseconds) responds. At the same time, the "patch" is waterproof and generates high quality sound.