
Machine Translates Thoughts into Speech in Real Time - unignorant
http://www.physorg.com/news180620740.html/r:t/
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gruseom
Remarkable. Here's what seems to be the key point (reordered a bit for
clarity):

 _The study supported our hypothesis [...] that the premotor cortex represents
intended speech as an 'auditory trajectory,' that is, as a set of key
frequencies (formant frequencies) that vary with time in the acoustic signal
we hear as speech. [...] In an intact brain, these frequency trajectories are
sent to the primary motor cortex where they are transformed into motor
commands to the speech articulators. [...We] had to interpret these frequency
trajectories in order to translate them into speech. [...] In other words, we
could predict the intended sound directly from neural activity in the premotor
cortex, rather than try to predict the positions of all the speech
articulators individually and then try to reconstruct the intended sound
[...]_

Also remarkable (but maybe this is old hat to people who know about this
stuff?) is that the signals they're interpreting come from neurites that
started actually growing into the electrode months after it had been
implanted.

I suppose there is a big difference between being able to interpret pre-speech
frequencies in a normal brain (i.e. of a person who hasn't used this device
before), versus someone being able to train themselves to communicate using
this device over time. Given how adaptable the brain is, it's the latter that
would seem to be the big win (and the article does vaguely imply this). Of
course the device presumably wouldn't work at all if it weren't rooted in
normal speech function.

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NathanKP
The key facts:

 _In the current study, only three vowel sounds were tested._ _The test
subject's average hit rate increased from 45% to 70% across sessions, reaching
a high of 89% in the last session._

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yread
Holy cow! Is this 1st April? Unbelievable. They implanted an electrode to a
disabled guy's brain, powered it wirelessly and it sent them back wirelessly
signals representing audio frequencies of what the guy wanted to say. Decoded
on a computer with 50ms latency, 89% accuracy on vowels.

~~~
mcantelon
Yeah, I think I'll have to see more evidence before I'll believe this exists.

~~~
joeyo
The physorg article links to the original research paper, which is published
in an open access journal that anyone can view. Perhaps you would be
interested in video S1 in the supporting information section:

[http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone...](http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0008218#s5)

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geuis
Unfortunately I can't read the story from my iPhone. They redirect a perfectly
good site to a minimal site that doesn't properly follow links, so I'm
redirected to the current story list. Clicking on Full Site switches to the
proper display but then the story isn't in the list.

~~~
harpastum
[http://pda.physorg.com/speech-speechsynthesizer-
frequencytra...](http://pda.physorg.com/speech-speechsynthesizer-
frequencytrajectories_news180620740.html) should work. In fact, I prefer this
layout to the 'normal' one.

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jacquesm
That is quite amazing. It's a pity you posted this on what is probably one of
the lowest traffic days of the year for HN, but thank you anyway.

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nuba
I wonder how it goes about a person talking to himself (without actually
speaking) vs. thinking and speaking to somebody.

If I had to use one of these I'd surely need a 'mute' feature :)

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Pistos2
Polygraph replacement incoming?

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ghempton
I want one.

