Picking up a good vibration
1 Apr 2009 by Evoluted New Media
Researchers have come up with a novel way of helping lip readers distinguish sounds that lets them feel the words
Researchers have come up with a novel way of helping lip readers distinguish sounds that lets them feel the words
Lip reading is an essential skill for deaf people but it requires a high level of sustained concentration and some consonants, for example ‘p’ and ‘b’ are near impossible to distinguish. Researchers from MIT’s Sensory Communication Group are designing new tactile devices that convert sound waves into vibrations so users can ‘feel’ words.
The prototypes work best when held against a sensitive area like in the hand or on the back of the neck. By investigating the frequency reception of the skin, the team found that although the ear can perceive frequencies up to 20,000 Hertz, optimal frequencies for the skin are below 500 Hertz. The MIT group are now concentrating their efforts on finding the best way to transform the sound waves into communication vibrations.
The project was inspired by Professor Charlotte Reed’s work on the Tadoma technique, which can improve communication for deaf-blind people. The method involves a practitioner holding their hands to someone’s face while they are talking, allowing them to feel the vibrations on their face and neck. Professor Reed said: “We were inspired by seeing what deaf-blind people could accomplish just using the sense of touch alone.”
In the future, the acoustic processing software may be developed for use in existing smart phones ensuring that the price of the technology remains low. “Tactile devices can be several orders of magnitude cheaper than cochlear implants,” said Ted Moallem, a graduate student working on the project.
