Khaberni - Researchers from Cambridge University developed an innovative device, named Revoice, which assists people suffering from speech impairment after a stroke to communicate fluently without needing to implant surgical devices in the brain.
The device is worn as a soft, flexible necklace and uses a combination of highly sensitive sensors and artificial intelligence technologies to capture precise speech signals, such as throat muscle vibrations and heart rate. The system analyzes these signals in real time to reconstruct the intended words and sentences, interpreting emotional state and context, like time or weather conditions, to generate complete and expressive sentences.
Preliminary Trial Results
An initial trial involving five patients suffering from dysarthria, a common disorder after a stroke, showed that the device achieved a very low error rate: 4.2% in words and 2.9% in sentences. Unlike current speech assistance technologies, which often require manual input of letters or eye movement tracking, the Revoice device provides seamless and immediate communication, converting a few words into complete, natural sentences.
In another experiment, the device was able to transform a short phrase like "we will go to the hospital" into a more detailed and expressive sentence based on the user's heart rate and time, becoming: "Although it is a bit late, I still feel uncomfortable. Can we go to the hospital now?"
Expected Impact and Future Applications
The researchers intend to conduct a larger clinical study to assess the device's effectiveness on patients with dysarthria who speak English, hoping to launch it within this year. The team hopes that future versions of the device will also aid people suffering from Parkinson's disease and motor neuron disease, with multilingual capabilities and broader interpretation of emotional states, and fully autonomous operation for daily use.
It is noted that about half of the people suffer from dysarthria after a stroke, a condition that causes weakness in the muscles of the face, mouth, and vocal cords, leading to difficulty speaking clearly and stuttering or speaking in short, disjointed sentences instead of complete sentences.
Typically, stroke patients with dysarthria rely on speech therapy specialists, through exercises of repeating words and phrases, and the recovery period can take months or more. Although many patients eventually regain most of their speech abilities, there remains a need for easy-to-use, portable speech solutions, like the Revoice device.
