Technology

How can dumb people regain their speechlessness?

According to the World Health Organization,There are currently around 466 million people in the world who cannot speak. Usually their dumbness is associated with congenital deafness - without hearing the speech of adults, deaf children simply cannot learn to speak. But sometimes the cause of dumbness is damage to the vocal cords, with the result that a person knows how to pronounce words, but simply cannot voice them. It seems that in the future some of these people will regain their ability to speak, simply by sticking a small film on their neck. But technology is unlikely to help everyone.

A person can talk due to the presenceThe larynx is the area of ​​the respiratory system in which the organs responsible for the formation of voice are located. Before playing any sound, human vocal cords are compressed and vibrate under the pressure of the air emerging from the lungs. From this sound wave, thanks to the movement of the lips, letters, words and sentences are obtained.

Voice forming apparatus

A person with damaged vocal cords is notcan reproduce a sound wave, that is it is almost deprived of a voice. In some cases, they can talk, pressing the so-called voice-forming apparatus to their neck - it replaces the vocal cords and generates sound waves. These devices have two minuses: firstly, the reproduced sounds strongly resemble the voice of the robot, and secondly, they should be constantly carried with you and pressed against the neck every time you need to say something.

The scheme of the voice forming apparatus

Artificial larynx

Chinese scientists have come up with more convenientalternative to voice forming machines. The technology is called Wearable Artificial Graphene Throat (WAGT), which can be translated as “wearable artificial graphene larynx”. It consists of a thin sticker measuring 1.5 × 3 centimeters, on which a layer of graphene is applied using a laser. This kind of device is pasted on the neck of a dumb man, just like a temporary children's tattoo.

The scheme of the artificial larynx

Scientists did not explain how, but when tryinghuman word, this graphene sticker reads the movements of the larynx - they occur even when the vocal cords are broken. These data through the wires are sent to a small bracelet in which there is a computer for generating voice and a speaker for playing it. Scientists do not specify this, but, most likely, the wires are located outside and stretch along the body to the bracelet. Such a solution is not ideal, but these wires can be hidden under clothes - such a device is in any case more convenient than ordinary voice-forming devices.

This is interesting: Almost all graphene offered on the commercial market turned out to be fake.

The developers claim that with the help of thistechnology volunteers were able to quite clearly pronounce the words "good" and "no." It is noteworthy that their voices were perfectly audible - the volume reached 75 decibels, which is the norm for a human voice. One of the drawbacks of voice forming devices still remained - the generated voice is again too “robotic”.

The fact that graphene is able to capture movementlarynx believe with great pleasure - scientists generally believe that this material can solve as many as 5 problems of mankind. At least in the future, it can be used to create medical sensors for diagnosing dangerous diseases.

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