Help with invention

[Diane Walker]

I'm not sure if I'm in the right place, but here goes.

What I want to do is marry speech recognition hard(?)ware to a small LED message board to create a device for the hearing impaired. The speaker would would talk into a micophone and their words would be displayed on the LED Sign scrolling message board. (see picture)

Doable?? Help!

 

[davenn]

I'm not sure if I'm in the right place, but here goes.

What I want to do is marry speech recognition hard(?)ware to a small LED message board to create a device for the hearing impaired. The speaker would would talk into a micophone and their words would be displayed on the LED Sign scrolling message board. (see picture)

Doable?? Help!

do able ... yes
someone has probably already done it ... what research have YOU done so far ?

 

[Alec_t]

This sort of thing?
or this?

 

[BobK]

Nothing wrong with the idea, but there are existing solutions. When my father in law temporarily lost his hearing, we used a tablet with speech recognition (google) and a large font for ease of reading to communicate with him.

Bob

 

[hevans1944]

... their words would be displayed on the LED Sign scrolling message board.

If you do decide to proceed with this, an LED display such as you proposed is not very user-friendly for alphanumeric display of speech. It is also very power-hungry. A liquid-crystal display (LCD) with a user-controlled backlight would be better. The only advantage of an LED display is the possibility that could be more legible under outside daylight lighting conditions than an LCD. I know my cell phone camera and its LCD is virtually unusable in bright daylight... I tried taking pictures at the beach this week and couldn't see the images until I entered shade to review them. Ugh.

However, I like the cell-phone app that @Alec_t linked to as the best human-machine interface (HMI). but it requires a cloud server to perform the speech-to-text translations in real-time. It may be more reasonable to use the cell phone as the microphone and text entry/text display and use a Bluetooth connection to a more powerful processor, located nearby, to perform the translations. This is to avoid having to pay subscription fees in perpetuity to use the services of a cloud-based software engine (server).

 

[BobK]

Cell phone processors are pretty powerful. Siri does an incredibly good job of speech to text in real time. It is fun to watch it correct as it gets more context. It will initially type out the wrong words then correct them after seeing what comes next.

If you could tap into the speech recognition software used by Siri, an excellent product could be made.

Bob

 

[hevans1944]

If you could tap into the speech recognition software used by Siri, an excellent product could be made.

I have often wondered how apps for cellphones get written. Anybody got any clues on how to do that? I am too busy to Google it and chase down leads right now.

 

[chopnhack]

I have often wondered how apps for cellphones get written. Anybody got any clues on how to do that? I am too busy to Google it and chase down leads right now.

Its done with Java. Apparently there is even an Android IDE available now!

 

[BobK]

Its done with Java. Apparently there is even an Android IDE available now!

That is for android. For iPhone it is their own language called Objective C. And you have to be an approved developer to get the tools from them (or at least that used to be the case)

Or, you can write browser hosted apps for both of them using HTML 5 and Javascript (which is quite different than Java)

Bob

 

[CDRIVE]

I have often wondered how apps for cellphones get written. Anybody got any clues on how to do that? I am too busy to Google it and chase down leads right now.

Hop, since you're retired and moving to Florida we'll have to get together so I can teach you how to do it properly. You're not supposed to be "busy" doing anything. I consider myself a professional at it!

Chris

 

[chopnhack]

You S. FL. guys have all the fun!

 

[hevans1944]

You S. FL. guys have all the fun!

Yeah, you N. FL. guys are all wet right now.

Hop, since you're retired and moving to Florida we'll have to get together so I can teach you how to do it properly. You're not supposed to be "busy" doing anything. I consider myself a professional at it!

Chris

Chris, I am "busy" biting my nails to the bone trying to figure out how to line up all the ducks I need to line up and kill before closing on October 20, 2016. Inspections, surveys, title searches, insurance... the list seems endless... and feels like a money pit. I will be lucky to move here with a clean set of underwear... which, apparently is optional in Florida.

 

[CDRIVE]

You S. FL. guys have all the fun!

If you also need some retirement OJT I'm sure I can assist both of you simultaneously. It's the only science where class size won't deprive any singular student of the full curriculum. There is no such thing as missing a semester, chapter or topic. You simply make it up any damn time you feel like it. The best part is ...if you don't feel that any particular part of the course suits your liking you can tell your instructor to kiss off!

Chris

 

[CDRIVE]

Diane, welcome to Electronics Point. I figure I should do this lest you think that we're a gaggle of clucking hens. Please forgive us for digressing into personal banter. Be assured that it wouldn't have happened if we thought your question hadn't been adequately addressed. Since the entire civilized and not so civilized world can't seem to live without their smart phones, Bob's suggestion https://www.electronicspoint.com/threads/help-with-invention.280325/#post-1705275 would seem to make the most sense. After all, why reinvent the wheel and why carry yet another device when your smart phone can do the job?

Chris

 

[CDRIVE]

Yeah, you N. FL. guys are all wet right now.


Chris, I am "busy" biting my nails to the bone trying to figure out how to line up all the ducks I need to line up and kill before closing on October 20, 2016. Inspections, surveys, title searches, insurance... the list seems endless... and feels like a money pit. I will be lucky to move here with a clean set of underwear... which, apparently is optional in Florida.

Hop, I feel your pain but the prospect of shedding your shoes and uh.... underwear will help getting you through these tough times.

Chris

 

[hevans1944]

Diane, welcome to Electronics Point. I figure I should do this lest you think that we're a gaggle of clucking hens. Please forgive us for digressing into personal banter. Be assured that it wouldn't have happened if we thought your question hadn't been adequately addressed. Since the entire civilized and not so civilized world can't seem to live without their smart phones, Bob's suggestion https://www.electronicspoint.com/threads/help-with-invention.280325/#post-1705275 would seem to make the most sense. After all, why reinvent the wheel and why carry yet another device when your smart phone can do the job?

Chris

Actually, it was @Alec_t in post #3 who linked to a cellphone app and to a Google glass patent for speech-to-text app. There is almost no information on what the Google patent covers, but I doubt it preempts or predates the cellphone app. Surely the lawyers will duke it out eventually. That cellphone app apparently requires a cloud server to accommodate multiple speakers simultaneously. That is why I suggested in post #5 using Bluetooth to link all the cellphones to a local server the deaf person could bring with them to the table.

Cellphone processors are indeed powerful, but Siri is pretty dumb. Check out these Google links on Siri implementation. Siri does NOT handle multiple speakers. Siri does not do multiple translations from a given instance of Siri. Siri may require considerable improvement to accommodate multiple, random, speakers. Still, Siri is a good place to start. Apple recently "opened up" the Siri app to outside developers. Check out these Google results on how folks intend to use Siri to aid the deaf.

@Diane Walker you have a good idea... speech-to-text displays for the deaf... but I think you need to do some more research to see what the current state-of-the-art is. This IS the 21st Century you know. Expect great things to happen, sooner than you think.

 

[HellasTechn]

A liquid-crystal display (LCD) with a user-controlled backlight would be better.

OLED screen ?

 

[CDRIVE]

Oops, I did seem to miss Alec's post. Sorry Alec.

Chris

 

[Diane Walker]

Thank you, everyone, for your input.
I'm looking to do something simpler and more user friendly for the elderly.
I may have found a solution.
I will keep you posted.

 

[hevans1944]

... I'm looking to do something simpler and more user friendly for the elderly.
I may have found a solution. ...

Yeah! Being a somewhat elderly person myself, I always am on the look-out for "simpler and more user friendly," plus affordable is also nice. I miss my original flip-open cell phone... just touch-tone buttons and a really tiny screen... no texting IIRC. If I remembered to setup speed-dial, just one button to press to make a phone call. Now I can't even dial my Galaxy 4 without going through a half-dozen screens. The iPhone is even more intimidating, although wife swears by it, not at it like I would. And it's illegal to operate a cell phone while driving in several states now without a Bluetooth hands-free adapter (which I have, but have yet to figure out how to use)! And the screen fades out in bright daylight so I can't use it for anything, even standing still watching flowers on the beach. Sometimes I long for retro... like bright red LED scrolling displays!

Congratulation on finding a solution. Once you get it in play, please do post back here and tell us how you did it. Thanks!

Hop