The following e-mail will be sent on your behalf.

 has sent the following story to you from ElectricNews.net.

The story is available from https://electricnews.net/news.html?code=6954130

NTT looks to invent lip-reading phones
Thursday, April 04 2002
by Matthew Clark


Scientists in Japan are developing new technology for mobile phones that should
allow the electronic devices to read lips. 



According to a report in the latest New Scientist magazine, Japanese mobile giant
NTT DoCoMo is working on technology that will let mobile phones read lips so
users will not have to shout into the mouthpieces of their handsets. The
technology could also be used to help people who have lost their voice to use
mobiles. 



Another possible use of the technology would be its ability to convert movements
of the mouth into text to be sent as an SMS or e-mail. 



The magazine says that the company's engineers have developed a prototype device
which can read vowels and now they are focusing on consonants. Within the next
five years the company hopes to launch a working model. 



Phones equipped with the technology should be able to convert minute electrical
signals generated by the muscles in the mouth into a computer synthesised voice
so that users would only need to mouth what they want to say and a synthesised
voice would speak to a listener. 



The magazine says that the system in place now, which is only able to detect
vowels, has an acceptable error rate, but consonants are much harder to detect.
The engineers are thought to be considering the use of tiny digital cameras to
aid in the lip-reading technology. 



One of the benefits of such technology, according to NTT, would be the effect it
would have on already noisy locations, or places where it may be considered rude
to chat on a phone such as a quiet restaurant. With the technology in place,
users could have discrete conversations over their phone while also respecting
generally accepted mobile phone etiquette.