Cornell researchers have developed a wearable earphone device (earable) that bounces sound off the cheeks and transforms the echoes into an avatar of a person's entire moving face, utilizing acoustic technology to offer better privacy. The team designed the system called EarIO that transmits facial movements to a smartphone in real time and is compatible with commercially available headsets for hands-free, cordless video conferencing.
The EarIO works like a ship sending out pulses of sonar. A speaker on each side of the earphone sends acoustic signals to the sides of the face and a microphone picks up the echoes. As wearers talk, smile or raise their eyebrows, the skin moves and stretches, changing the echo profiles. A deep learning algorithm developed by the researchers uses artificial intelligence to continually process the data and translate the shifting echoes into complete facial expressions.
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https://techxplore.com/news/2022-07-wearable-device-sonar-reconstruct-facial.html