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To: T L Comiskey who wrote (40687)	3/29/2004 1:34:03 AM
From: lurqer	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Research aims to translate subtle signals into words When you read silently to yourself, not even moving your lips, the muscles of your throat, tongue and vocal cords twitch imperceptibly. That faint movement can be detected and translated into speech. Scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., say they have done just that. By sticking sensors under a person's chin and on either side of the Adam's apple, they were able to pick up the nerve signals that trigger tiny muscle movements and turn them into commands that drive a model rover or perform a simple Web search. Although the work is very preliminary, it someday could be used in voice recognition systems and to help people communicate clearly in noisy environments -- from space stations to air traffic control towers. It could help people who have lost their ability to speak or allow someone to chat with a colleague across a conference table without making a sound. "This is not like we're reading thoughts. We're reading the results of those thoughts," said Chuck Jorgensen, chief scientist for neuroengineering at Ames. The work is part of a five-year quest to find ways of controlling machines and computers by tapping the signals given off by nerves as muscles move, Jorgensen said. So far, the Ames team has trained a computer program to recognize a few words and digits, such as "stop" or "nine," when pronounced in a silent, "subvocal" way. Researchers hope to expand the program's vocabulary and to develop sensors that read nerve signals through clothing. indystar.com neuroengineering ??? Can one get a degree in this? lurqer