PNAS: Speech can produce jet-like transport relevant to asymptomatic spreading of virus. “Medical reports and news sources raise the possibility that flows created during breathing, speaking, laughing, singing, or exercise could be the means by which asymptomatic individuals contribute to spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We use experiments and simulations to quantify how exhaled air […]
MIT Technology Review: Loud talking could leave coronavirus in the air for up to 14 minutes. “Thousands of droplets from the mouths of people who are talking loudly can stay in the air for between eight and 14 minutes before disappearing, according to a new study. The research, conducted by a team with the US […]
Straits Times: National AI database gains 1,000 hours of local English voice samples. “Speech apps and tools such as voice transcription apps could soon be able to pick up Singapore English more accurately, as their developers can now access better data from an expanded corpus of local speech. Some 1,000 hours of natural conversations on […]
Science Blog: Study: AI Can Detect Depression In A Child’s Speech. “A machine learning algorithm can detect signs of anxiety and depression in the speech patterns of young children, potentially providing a fast and easy way of diagnosing conditions that are difficult to spot and often overlooked in young people, according to new research published […]
Christian Science Monitor: European leaders ask social media companies to censor extremist speech. “The leaders of Britain, France, and Italy will push social media companies on Wednesday to remove ‘terrorist content’ from the internet within one to two hours of it appearing because they say that is the period when most material is spread. British […]
Fast Company: Mozilla is crowdsourcing a massive speech-recognition system. “From Amazon’s Alexa to Apple’s Siri, speech recognition and response are becoming mainstays of how we interact with computers, apps, and internet services. But the technology is owned by giant corporations. Now the Mozilla Foundation, maker of the free Firefox browser, is recruiting volunteers to train […]
TechCrunch: Samsung’s new app uses emojis to help people with language disorders communicate. “Created by Samsung Electronics Italia (the company’s Italian subsidiary) and speech therapist Francesca Polini, Wemogee replaces text phrases with emoji combinations and can be used as a messaging app or in face-to-face interactions. It supports English and Italian and will be available […]
In development: an online free speech resource center. “The McLellan Free Expression Online Library will provide answers to legal questions and links to hundreds of sources on topics such as student censorship, invasion of privacy, social media speech, libel and copyright issues. Students across the country will be able to connect with [Michigan State University] […]
I’ve heard of DNA databases, and fingerprint databases, but never voice sample databases. “According to a statement from Korean Prosecution Services on April 27, its Forensic Science Division (director Young-dae Kim) will develop what is being called the ‘Korean Voice Sample Database’, which will be used to identify subjects and informants, conduct voice comparisons, and […]
Followers of UK politics, you’ll love this. There’s a new tool for analyzing the words of UK’s Parliament. “Linguists and historians have worked together to compile all the Parliamentary speeches from 1803-2005 on a free, easy access online website which is launched today. The website includes 7.6 million speeches and 1.6 billion words and include […]
Oh this should be interesting: an online, crowdsourced database of speech errors. “The public-at-large can access the tool at http://spedi.ku.edu. Researchers hope users will enter their own and others’ experiences of tip-of-the-tongue states, as well as slips of the tongue, slips of the ear (where people misperceive words) and malapropisms. A description of the website […]