Proposed is a vibration sensor including: a substrate; a first electrode positioned on the substrate; a support positioned on the first electrode and including a cylindrical hollow hole; and a diaphragm including a thin film positioned on the support and a second electrode positioned on the thin film. According to the present disclosure, it is possible to manufacture a skin-attachable vibration sensor that is attached to a user's neck to detect vibration acceleration in user's neck skin, thus exhibiting a uniform and high sensitivity to a user's voice over the frequency range of the human voice. In addition, the sensor sensitively detects a user's voice through neck skin vibrations rather than through air, thus being free from the influence of external noise or wind, and can recognize the user's voice even in a situation where a user's mouth is covered.

A system may detect silent, internal articulation of words by a human user, by measuring low-voltage electrical signals at electrodes positioned on a user's skin. The measured signals may have been generated by neural activation of speech articulator muscles during the internal articulation. The system may detect the content of internally articulated words even though the internal articulation may be silent, may occur even when the user is not exhaling, and may occur without muscle movement that is detectable by another person. The system may react in real-time to this detected content. In some cases, the system reacts by providing audio feedback to the user via an earphone or a bone conduction transducer. In other cases, the system reacts by controlling another device, such as a luminaire or television. In other cases, the system reacts by sending a message to a device associated with another person.

A system may detect silent, internal articulation of words by a human user, by measuring low-voltage electrical signals at electrodes positioned on a user's skin. The measured signals may have been generated by neural activation of speech articulator muscles during the internal articulation. The system may detect the content of internally articulated words even though the internal articulation may be silent, may occur even when the user is not exhaling, and may occur without muscle movement that is detectable by another person. The system may react in real-time to this detected content. In some cases, the system reacts by providing audio feedback to the user via an earphone or a bone conduction transducer. In other cases, the system reacts by controlling another device, such as a luminaire or television. In other cases, the system reacts by sending a message to a device associated with another person.

Provided is an information processing apparatus that is used by being adhered to the body of a user. The information processing apparatus includes a sound pickup sensor that has a sound pickup function, a communicating part that wirelessly transmits audio data picked up by the sound pickup sensor to the outside, a control part that controls the sound pickup sensor and the communicating part, a power source part that supplies a power source to at least one of the sound pickup sensor, the communicating part, or the control part, a housing part that accommodates therein at least one of the sound pickup sensor, the communicating part, the control part, or the power source part, and an adhering part that fixes the housing part to the user. The sound pickup part picks up a sound of the user using, for example, flesh conduction or bone conduction.

An apparatus is described which comprises the following: (a) a housing configured to be carried in an ear, (b) a motion sensor unit for acquiring motion data, (c) a physiological sensor unit for acquiring physiological data, (d) a data processing unit configured to generate performance data based on the motion data and/or the physiological data, (e) a signal processing unit configured to generate an audio signal based on the generated performance data, and (f) a loudspeaker for outputting the generated audio signal, wherein the motion sensor unit, the physiological sensor unit, the loudspeaker, the data processing unit, and the signal processing unit are incorporated in the housing. Furthermore, a system, a method and a use is described.

A throat microphone system and method are disclosed. Certain people may have difficulty vocalizing, such as those suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. The throat microphone system includes a microphone unit that wirelessly communicates with an external device, such as a receiver unit in combination with a smartphone or a smartphone. The microphone unit includes a microphone and a wireless transceiver to wirelessly transmit sound data generated by the microphone. The smartphone processes the sound data in order to increase the intelligibility and/or the volume. Further, the microphone unit may attach to the neck of the wearer and may encircle the neck less than the entire perimeter of the neck. In this way, the microphone unit may be easily removed in the event the wearer is in distress. Moreover, the throat microphone system may include a non-audio sensor, such as a vibration sensor or an electromyograph sensor, in order to determine whether the wearer is voicing speech.

A throat microphone system and method are disclosed. Certain people may have difficulty vocalizing, such as those suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. The throat microphone system includes a microphone unit that wirelessly communicates with an external device, such as a receiver unit in combination with a smartphone or a smartphone. The microphone unit includes a microphone and a wireless transceiver to wirelessly transmit sound data generated by the microphone. The smartphone processes the sound data in order to increase the intelligibility and/or the volume. Further, the microphone unit may attach to the neck of the wearer and may encircle the neck less than the entire perimeter of the neck. In this way, the microphone unit may be easily removed in the event the wearer is in distress. Moreover, the throat microphone system may include a non-audio sensor, such as a vibration sensor or an electromyograph sensor, in order to determine whether the wearer is voicing speech.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for analyzing ultrasonic signals to recognize mouthed articulations. One of the methods includes generating an ultrasonic carrier signal and coupling the ultrasonic carrier signal to a person's vocal tract. The method includes detecting a modulated ultrasonic signal, the modulated ultrasonic signal corresponding to the ultrasonic carrier signal modulated by the person's vocal tract to include information about articulations mouthed by the person; analyzing, using a data processing apparatus, the modulated ultrasonic signal to recognize the articulations mouthed by the person from the information in the modulated ultrasonic signal; and generating, using the data processing apparatus, an output in response to the recognized articulations.

A wearable audio apparatus used to support multiple audio components, namely, microphones. The audio apparatus can have a housing that contains the multiple microphones. The housing can be easily worn by a user, such as by coupling to a headset, ear mount/hook, user's clothing, or user's body. The microphones can be acoustically matched for rapid swapping without requiring a separate audio setup. The audio components can be mounted astride or near one another in the audio apparatus. The audio components can also be separately wired so that each audio component can be independently activated.

A wearable audio apparatus used to support multiple audio components, namely, microphones. The audio apparatus can have a housing that contains the multiple microphones. The housing can be easily worn by a user, such as by coupling to a headset, ear mount/hook, user's clothing, or user's body. The microphones can be acoustically matched for rapid swapping without requiring a separate audio setup. The audio components can be mounted astride or near one another in the audio apparatus. The audio components can also be separately wired so that each audio component can be independently activated.