Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Researchers Develop Eye-To-Speech Device For Persons With Speech Difficulty – News18

Researchers at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s Humanitarian Technology (HuT) Labs have developed a gadget that enables persons with speech difficulty to communicate with the outside world by utilising basic eye signalling.  The gadget named Netravaad includes a camera, display, speaker, controller, and a rechargeable battery that can operate for six hours on a single charge.

A customised artificial intelligence algorithm known as Sharani converts the user’s eye sign, which the camera picks up, into an alphabet, word, or phrase. The words and sentences that have been identified are shown on the screen. Additionally, the voice coming through the speakers gives the patient a sense of communicating with people and aids the outside world in understanding the patient’s sentiments. Netravaad will grow further and be made available in local languages like Malayalam and Hindi. The user interface will also be quite engaging, providing consumers with a comfortable experience.

Before using Netravaad, the patients must get the proper training to use it to its full potential. The length of the training is determined by the patient’s health. All of Netravaad’s usage instructions are presented on the screen and are voiced over utilising the speaker in addition to the training. Once the training is complete, the patient may use the device’s voice to interact with other people and effortlessly follow its directions.

“For communication, we created a new language using eye signs, called Netravaani. It allows users to utilise all 26 English alphabets to create any word and sentence. It also supports the numbers 0 to 9, with which the users can create any number,” said Prof Rajesh Kannan Megalingam, Director, Humanitarian Technology (HuT) Labs.

English 1 and English 2 are the two modes that Netravaad offers. Patients who choose the first mode can quickly communicate with family members or carers in case of an emergency by choosing the 10 words they use the most frequently for daily tasks. The English 2 mode comprises word, phrase, and number sub modes. Users can utilise eye signals to create any word or sentence in the word or sentence sub-mode, respectively.

Netravaad is undertaking regional language testing in Hindi and Malayalam whereas the device’s default language is English. More languages are expected to be added in the future.