Communications of the ACM
Tongue-Machine Computer Interfaces Are Here
Scientists at Tokyo's Laboratory for Advanced Brain Signal Processing have developed a tongue-machine interface that responds to glossokinetic potential.
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Tongue input technology using glossokinetic potential (GKP) is capable of directing motorized wheelchairs and could possibly lead to successful silent speech-recognition technology.
Tokyo's Laboratory for Advanced Brain Signal Processing has created a tongue-machine interface that responds to GKP, which are electric potential responses generated by tongue movement.
The tip of the human tongue has a negative charge, and researchers can trace tongue positions by measuring decreases in potential at points of contact between the tongue and surrounding tissues. Because tongues are muscular organs with a wide range of mobility, they have the potential to represent an equally wide range of information.
The researchers measured their interface's reaction time via experiments in which subjects responded to visual cues by moving their tongues. A "tongue rudder" was created to track horizontal tongue movements and control a motorized wheelchair, and the researchers say the technology has the potential to translate horizontal, vertical, and forward-backward movements into speech.
"A fast and reliable technique to trace tongue movements is important for speech scientists who try to understand how speech is controlled by the tongue or how the tongue is disrupted in various speech disorders," they note. "GKP can provide a simple and cost-effective method to trace tongue movements that is able to detect the contact of the tongue with other articulatory organs."
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