Audeo neckband allows users to speak without actually speaking

Michael Callahan, CEO and co-founder of Ambient Corporation, recently used the company’s Audeo neckband to demonstrate a “voiceless” phone call for the first time.

With training, a person can send nerve signals to her vocal chords without making a sound. The Audeo is capable of picking up those signals and wirelessly transmitting them to a computer where they are turned into spoken words.

The system is slow right now and can only recognize about 150 words and phrases. Still, it is already capable of letting people suffering from diseases like ALS speak again.

One thing that you don’t have to worry about is having your inner thoughts shared along with what you want to say. Callahan says that Audeo only deciphers signals at a “level above thinking.” The device is even capable of sending your silent conversation over a phone call while you talk out loud to somebody else near you.

Ambient hopes to release an improved version of Audeo by the end of the year, capable of translating any word. The only downside is that it will be slower because it will use individual phonemes that make up complete words instead of the full words themselves.

Check out a video of the neckband being demonstrated here.

[via New Scientist]