Crime fighting system converts lip motions into spoken word

If you think text-to-speech or video-texting is hot stuff, researchers at the University of East Anglia have something that just might cool your excitement. Kicking off a three-year project, the team is setting out to "collect data for lip-reading and use it to create machines that automatically convert videos of lip-motions into text." By building a vast database of lip movements that can be read and spat out in verbally, the gurus hope to fight crime by being able to pick out potentially threatening phrases that security cameras pick up. The university is teaming up with the Centre for Vision, Speech, and Signal Processing at Surrey University in order to get the technology wrapped into cameras just about everywhere, from mobile phones to vehicle dash boards. Admittedly, we're not exactly keen on yet another Big Brother agenda gaining traction, but if this stuff stays in the right hands, you loud-mouthed criminals better start crafting your own unique language over the next few years.

[Simon @ Feb 23rd 2007 8:59AM]

HAL is watching you

[Scabies @ Feb 23rd 2007 9:23AM]

that would be pretty nuts on the phones that have the video-conferencing camera (facing the same direction as the numpad) so you could lipsync to your phone and it would spit out the text. I can text while driving by feel, but it would be so much faster and safer if I had voice-text messaging :D

(I could just imagine the kids in high/middleschool mumbling to themselves: "Are you texting someone, Mr. _____?" "no, just talking to myself, sorry..."

[Chris @ Feb 23rd 2007 11:33AM]

Umm, why would you talk at your phone to text a message when you could just talk directly to them?

[tiuk @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:32PM]

Sometimes people are in a situation where they can't talk (meaning the person you're talking to), that's where text messaging really comes in handy.

[Andir3.0 @ Feb 23rd 2007 9:24AM]

Damn the "Man"! Learn to be a Ventriloquist: http://www.ventriloquism101.com/products/ventriloquism101.htm

** I am not the proprietor or distributor of above merchandise. It's a joke. Laugh. **

[Scabies @ Feb 23rd 2007 9:25AM]

oh, i forgot to add, you would need a fairly snappy framerate, security clips I've seen on TV are like 1-2 FPS, no way you could get a coherent translation from that

[andrew.basta @ Feb 23rd 2007 9:28AM]

This tech gives more credibility to major league coaches who feel compelled to hold clipboards over their mouths while talking. Big market there I suppose...

[Jason @ Feb 23rd 2007 9:50AM]

Good thing only 30% of english can be lip-read. From wikipedia:

It has been estimated that only 30% to 40% of sounds in the English language are distinguishable from sight alone; the phrase "where there's life, there's hope" looks identical to "where's the lavender soap" in most English dialects.

So, revolutionary giving hope, or just someone wanting some soap?

[Dudeskee @ Feb 23rd 2007 10:41AM]

When Wikipedia says "it has been estimated that...[fact]..." and doesn't cite a source, it directly translates to "I pulled this number out of my ass, and don't care that people will take it as truth."

And it's not supporting evidence when you find a website that quotes this text from Wiki.

[Dudeskee @ Feb 23rd 2007 11:23AM]

I wasn't attacking you, I was attacking wikipedia and its content. Plus I didn't say it wasn't a funny comment.

That fact is an interesting one, but my point is that without a link to one of those scientific articles (which I'm not asking you to provide--I'm asking the writers of the article to provide it), it might as well have been pulled out of the air.

[Ted Chuang @ Feb 23rd 2007 10:28AM]

it's even harder to lip-read chinese, as each word carries a wide array of meanings, depending on context.

[Jason @ Feb 23rd 2007 10:57AM]

Heh, I was only using wikipedia for their funny example sentence. Those numbers I actually learned from my studies around deaf and hard of hearing, where their is plenty of known scientific studies proving them. But I don't think the comments on a tech blog's website is really the place to discuss this. I just meant for it to be a funny comment, go flame somewhere else.

[Nick Normal @ Feb 23rd 2007 12:07PM]

all you people and your Wikipedia references, bleh. Try walking along Canal Street in Manhattan! the guys selling 'watches, rolex, gucci handbags', they ALREADY have their own language! and their lip-movements aren't standard; they're a blend of native African and Carribean tongues, with NY attitude (as if that isn't hard enough already!) to boot!

[Mike @ Feb 23rd 2007 2:04PM]

"you loud-mouthed criminals better start crafting your own unique language over the next few years." - Already done - cockney rhyming slang was invented so London criminals could communicate in secrecy,over 100 years ago.

[Eric @ Feb 23rd 2007 3:32PM]

Warning to all men: Do not every say to a 15-yr old girl "I want a fig newton."

You will find yourself arrested for no apparent reason.