SilentWhisper: faint whisper speech using wearable microphone
Author
Hiraki, Hirotaka and Rekimoto, Jun
Abstract
Voice interaction is a fundamental human capacity, and we can use voice user interfaces just speaking. However, in public spaces, we are hesitant to use them because of consideration for their surroundings and low privacy. Silent speech, a method that recognizes the movement of speech in silence, has been proposed as a solution to this problem, and it allows us to maintain our privacy when speaking. However, existing silent speech interfaces are burdensome because the sensor must be kept in contact with the face and mouth, and commands must be prepared for each user. In this study, we propose a method to input whispered speech at a quiet volume that cannot be heard by others using a pin microphone. Experimental results show that a recognition rate was 13.9% WER and 6.4% CER for 210 phrases. We showed that privacy-preserving vocal input is possible by whispering voices which are not comprehensible to others.
