NASA - NASA Develops System To Computerize Silent, "Subvocal Speech"

NASA - NASA Develops System To Computerize Silent, "Subvocal Speech"

Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1979)

John Bluck
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
(Phone: 650/604-5026)

March 17, 2004
RELEASE: 04-093

NASA Develops System To Computerize Silent, "Subvocal Speech"

NASA scientists have begun to computerize human, silent reading using
nerve signals in the throat that control speech.

In preliminary experiments, NASA scientists found that small, button-sized
sensors, stuck under the chin and on either side of the "Adam's apple,"
could gather nerve signals, and send them to a processor and then to a
computer program that translates them into words. Eventually, such
"subvocal speech" systems could be used in spacesuits, in noisy places
like airport towers to capture air-traffic controller commands, or even in
traditional voice-recognition programs to increase accuracy, according to
NASA scientists.

"What is analyzed is silent, or subauditory, speech, such as when a person
silently reads or talks to himself," said Chuck Jorgensen, a scientist
whose team is developing silent, subvocal speech recognition at NASA's
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. "Biological signals arise when
reading or speaking to oneself with or without actual lip or facial
movement," Jorgensen explained.

"A person using the subvocal system thinks of phrases and talks to himself
so quietly, it cannot be heard, but the tongue and vocal chords do receive
speech signals from the brain," Jorgensen said.

In their first experiment, scientists "trained" special software to
recognize six words and 10 digits that the researchers repeated
subvocally. Initial word recognition results were an average of 92 percent
accurate. The first sub-vocal words the system "learned" were "stop,"
"go," "left," "right," "alpha" and "omega," and the digits "zero" through
"nine." Silently speaking these words, scientists conducted simple
searches on the Internet by using a number chart representing the alphabet
to control a Web browser program.

"We took the alphabet and put it into a matrix -- like a calendar. We
numbered the columns and rows, and we could identify each letter with a
pair of single-digit numbers," Jorgensen said. "So we silently spelled out
'NASA' and then submitted it to a well-known Web search engine. We
electronically numbered the Web pages that came up as search results. We
used the numbers again to choose Web pages to examine. This proved we
could browse the Web without touching a keyboard," Jorgensen explained.

Scientists are testing new, "noncontact" sensors that can read muscle
signals even through a layer of clothing.

A second demonstration will be to control a mechanical device using a
simple set of commands, according to Jorgensen. His team is planning tests
with a simulated Mars rover. "We can have the model rover go left or right
using silently 'spoken' words," Jorgensen said. People in noisy conditions
could use the system when privacy is needed, such as during telephone
conversations on buses or trains, according to scientists.

"An expanded muscle-control system could help injured astronauts control
machines. If an astronaut is suffering from muscle weakness due to a long
stint in microgravity, the astronaut could send signals to software that
would assist with landings on Mars or the Earth, for example," Jorgensen
explained. "A logical spin-off would be that handicapped persons could use
this system for a lot of things."

To learn more about what is in the patterns of the nerve signals that
control vocal chords, muscles and tongue position, Ames scientists are
studying the complex nerve-signal patterns. "We use an amplifier to
strengthen the electrical nerve signals. These are processed to remove
noise, and then we process them to see useful parts of the signals to show
one word from another," Jorgensen said.

After the signals are amplified, computer software "reads" the signals to
recognize each word and sound. "The keys to this system are the sensors,
the signal processing and the pattern recognition, and that's where the
scientific meat of what we're doing resides," Jorgensen explained. "We
will continue to expand the vocabulary with sets of English sounds, usable
by a full speech-recognition computer program."

The Computing, Information and Communications Technology Program, part of
NASA's Office of Exploration Systems, funds the subvocal word-recognition
research. There is a patent pending for the new technology.


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