Hope for the hopeless

Teenager from India invents device
that can convert breath to speech
A high school student from India has invented a
device that can convert a person’s breath into
speech, to give millions of people around the
world suffering from speech impediment a 'voice'
for the first time.
Image: Arsh Shah Dilbagi
Sixteen-year-old Arsh Shah Dilbagi has developed
a new technology called ‘TALK’, which is a cheap
and portable device to help people who are
physically incapable of speaking express
themselves. Right now, 1.4 percent of the world’s
population has very limited or no speech, due to
conditions such as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS), locked-in syndrome (LIS), Encephalopathy
(SEM), Parkinson’s disease, and paralysis. So
that's literally a group of people that could match
the entire population of Germany, and all of them
unable to speak.
Stephen Hawking has a device to help him
communicate, but it's extremely expensive,
costing several thousand dollars, and is also quite
bulky. What Dilbagi has managed to do is invent
a device that achieves the same thing, but can be
purchased for just $80.
The way TALK works is that it’s able to translate
the user’s breath into electric signals using a
special device called a MEMS Microphone . This
technology is composed of a pressure-sensitive
diaphragm etched directly into a silicon chip, and
an amplifying device to increase the sound of the
user’s breath.
By expelling two types of breaths into the device,
with different intensities and timing, the user is
able to spell out words in Morse code. "A
microprocessor then interprets the breathes into
dots and dashes, converting them into words. The
words are then sent to a second microprocessor
that synthesises them into voice,” says Whitney
Mallett at Motherboard. "The morse code can
either be translated into English, or specific
commands and phrases. The device features nine
different voices varying in age and gender."
People who do not have a means of properly
expressing themselves, like those living with
speech disorders, experience a lower than
average life expectancy because of it. Dilbagi’s
aim for this device is to give millions of people
like this a 'voice' for the first time.
"After testing the final design with myself and
friends and family, I was able to arrange a
meeting with the Head of Neurology at Sir Ganga
Ram Hospital, New Delhi and tested TALK (under
supervision of doctor and in controlled
environment) with a person suffering from SEM
and Parkinson's Disease," Dilbagi reports . "The
person was able to give two distinguishable
signals using his breath and the device worked
perfectly.”
TALK was developed by Dilbagi as part of
Google’s Global Science Fair, which is a
competion that’s open to 13 to 18-year-olds from
anywhere in the world. Dilbagi is the only finalist
left from Asia. Here he is talking about his device