Imagine speaking without making a sound?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Communication is crucial in noisy military and industrial settings. Existing silent-speech devices often require implants, making them impractical.
Enter Sunguk Hong and colleagues at Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea.
They developed a neck device that detects throat movement using AI. The device includes a tiny camera and a thin pad placed on the throat. As words are mouthed, the pad shifts and the camera captures these movements. AI then converts them into audible signals.
Tested using the phonetic alphabet in noisy settings, the system achieved eighty-five percent accuracy.
So, don’t wave your arms. Just mouth the words. We’ll understand.
Hong, S., Yoo, J., & Park, S. M. (2026). Soft Multiaxial Strain Mapping Interface with AI-Driven Decoding for Silent Speech in Noise. Cyborg and Bionic Systems, 7, 0536.