{"id":549308,"date":"2026-04-25T02:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T02:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/549308\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T02:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T02:15:13","slug":"this-ai-neck-band-lets-you-have-silent-conversations-without-saying-anything-south-korean-researchers-say-camera-equipped-wearable-uses-a-movement-map-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/549308\/","title":{"rendered":"This AI neck band lets you have \u2018silent conversations\u2019 without saying anything \u2014 South Korean researchers say camera-equipped wearable uses a \u2018movement map\u2019 on the neck to restore \u2018lost voices\u2019 with surprising accuracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AI is being used to turn neck movements into wordsIt&#8217;s the work of researchers from South KoreaThe system could eventually be used for &#8216;silent conversations&#8217;<\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-549e98d2-fac4-4f51-804b-1bf00ba9f6d8\">One of the many talents offered <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/ai-platforms-assistants\/i-tried-chromes-new-ai-skills-feature-and-its-like-a-mini-toolkit-of-ai-shortcuts\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/ai-platforms-assistants\/i-tried-chromes-new-ai-skills-feature-and-its-like-a-mini-toolkit-of-ai-shortcuts\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/ai-platforms-assistants\/i-tried-chromes-new-ai-skills-feature-and-its-like-a-mini-toolkit-of-ai-shortcuts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">by AI systems<\/a> is advanced pattern recognition, and researchers from the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea have put this to good use by developing a wearable neck band that translates muscle and skin movements into speech.<\/p>\n<p>As outlined <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.postech.ac.kr\/eng\/research\/research_results.do?mode=view&amp;articleNo=46258\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.postech.ac.kr\/eng\/research\/research_results.do?mode=view&amp;articleNo=46258\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">by the researchers<\/a> (via <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/newatlas.com\/wearables\/postech-ai-neckband-words-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/newatlas.com\/wearables\/postech-ai-neckband-words-speech\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">New Atlas<\/a>), the device is intended to restore &#8220;lost voices&#8221; \u2014 to give the power of speech back to those who are unable to talk normally. A small camera is used to track a &#8220;movement map&#8221; on the neck when the wearer intends to say something, with no vocalizations required.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-549e98d2-fac4-4f51-804b-1bf00ba9f6d8-2\">The algorithm-based estimation of what a person is trying to say is then combined with speech synthesis technology to verbalize the words. This speech synthesis system can even be trained on the wearer of the AI neckband (an example of deepfake technology actually being used <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/pro\/ai-voice-tech-is-now-so-good-that-you-almost-certainly-wont-be-able-to-distinguish-between-real-and-deepfake-voices-heres-what-you-need-to-know\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/pro\/ai-voice-tech-is-now-so-good-that-you-almost-certainly-wont-be-able-to-distinguish-between-real-and-deepfake-voices-heres-what-you-need-to-know\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/pro\/ai-voice-tech-is-now-so-good-that-you-almost-certainly-wont-be-able-to-distinguish-between-real-and-deepfake-voices-heres-what-you-need-to-know\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">for something worthwhile<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Article continues below <\/p>\n<p>            You may like<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is a noteworthy technology because it has a wide range of potential applications, including assisting <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Laryngectomy\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Laryngectomy\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">laryngectomized patients<\/a>, communicating in noisy industrial environments, and even supporting silent conversations,&#8221; says Professor Sung-Min Park, who led the study at POSTECH).<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-cc4ad53c-f461-4f39-9609-62fa086e4c74\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/>85.8% recognition accuracy<\/p>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/QQwvKKshtchvV9HE8DyJFA.jpg\" alt=\"AI neckband\"   loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/QQwvKKshtchvV9HE8DyJFA.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/QQwvKKshtchvV9HE8DyJFA.jpg\" class=\"inline\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p>The system was trained on 26 specific words (Image credit: POSTECH)<\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-98e883bc-6171-4e04-9ea0-53ec64877c9f\">Those &#8220;silent conversations&#8221; could be in libraries or conference rooms, for example, when people aren&#8217;t able to talk audibly for whatever reason. It could even be used as an alternative to radios or text messaging for staff working in an area where it&#8217;s impractical to be holding face-to-face conversations.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s quite a long way to go before this is ready for anyone to use, however. While the band can achieve 85.8% recognition accuracy, this is only across 26 predefined words \u2014 the NATO phonetic alphabet (&#8220;Alpha&#8221;, &#8220;Bravo&#8221;, and so on). When the subject is moving, meanwhile, the accuracy rate currently drops to 39.72%.<\/p>\n<p>That rate should improve as the system is trained further. Encouragingly, the neckband performed well when it came to cutting out background noise, and words could be recognized with white noise levels of 90 decibels in the background (that&#8217;s about the equivalent of a busy construction site).<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.<\/p>\n<p>Another benefit of the AI wearable system is that it&#8217;s much simpler and less bulky than other thought-to-speech systems currently in development, including technology based on electroencephalography (EEG) brain wave readings. It&#8217;s a significant step up in terms of portability and accessibility.<\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-0da6eef1-5cf0-4a50-b755-eb7e1bbbe412\"><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEWFJsWTJoeVlXUmhjaTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?hl=en-GB&amp;gl=GB&amp;ceid=GB%3Aen\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEWFJsWTJoeVlXUmhjaTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?hl=en-GB&amp;gl=GB&amp;ceid=GB%3Aen\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Follow TechRadar on Google News<\/a> and <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=techradar.com\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=techradar.com\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">add us as a preferred source<\/a> to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!<\/p>\n<p>And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@techradar\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@techradar\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">YouTube <\/a>and <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@techradar\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@techradar\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TikTok<\/a> for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Va6HybZ9RZAY7pIUK12h\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Va6HybZ9RZAY7pIUK12h\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">WhatsApp<\/a> too.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LocVgRosBUWfJzDitFzhKR.png\" alt=\"An Apple MacBook Air against a white background\"   class=\"person__avatar image-wrapped__image image__image\" loading=\"lazy\" data-normal=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LocVgRosBUWfJzDitFzhKR.png\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LocVgRosBUWfJzDitFzhKR.png\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LocVgRosBUWfJzDitFzhKR.png\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" data-slice-image=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The best laptops for all budgets<\/p>\n<p>Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons<br \/>\n<script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AI is being used to turn neck movements into wordsIt&#8217;s the work of researchers from South KoreaThe system&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-549308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}