This Device Can Hear the Voice Inside Your Head

He’s worked on a lunar rover, invented a 3D printable drone, and developed an audio technology to narrate the world for the visually impaired . But 24-year-old Arnav Kapur’s newest invention can do something even more sci-fi: it can hear the voice inside your head. Yes, it’s true. AlterEgo , Kapur’s new wearable device system, can detect what you’re saying when you’re talking to yourself, even if you’re completely silent and not moving your mouth. The technology involves a system of sensors that detect the minuscule neuromuscular signals sent by the brain to the vocal cords and muscles of the throat and tongue. These signals are sent out whenever we even think about talking, even if we make no sounds. The device feeds the signals through an A.I., which “reads” them and turns them into words. The user hears the A.I.’s responses through a microphone that conducts sound through the bones of the skull and ear, making them silent to others. Users can also respond out loud using artificial voice technology. AlterEgo won the “Use it!” Lemelson-MIT Student Prize , awarded to technology-based inventions involving consumer devices. The award comes with a $15,000 cash prize. “A lot of people with all sorts of speech pathologies are deprived of the ability to communicate with other people,” says Kapur, a PhD candidate at MIT. “This could restore the ability to speak for people who can’t.” Kapur is currently testing the device on people with communication limitations through various hospitals and rehabilitation centers in the Boston area. These limitations could be caused by stroke, cerebral palsy or neurodegenerative diseases like ALS. In the case of ALS, the disease affects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord, progressively robbing people of their ability to use their muscles, including those that control speech. […]

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