A team of researchers at Clemson University’s Human-Centered Computing Lab has developed a technology that allows users to speak into a cellphone, then have the message transmitted to another phone as a voice or text message. The new technology, called VoiceTEXT, could negate the need for people to text while driving, a practice that 19 states have outlawed as unsafe.
Ars Technica reports that the hands-free technology connects the speaker to a central server that records the call and, using speech-recognition software, can transcribe the words and deliver them as a text message.
Juan Gilbert, director of Clemson’s Human-Centered Computing Lab, says it is unclear why people prefer texting to calling. ”The simple answer is we don’t really know why,” says Mr. Gilbert. “What we do know is that users don’t want to call, but want to text.”
VoiceTEXT could be coming to your cellphone bill as soon as the end of the year. —Don Troop
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4 Responses to Researchers Invent the Cellphone
ksledge - February 19, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Except that many other researchers have shown that talking on your cell phone at all (including hands-free) is already quite dangerous.
22063319 - February 19, 2010 at 6:02 pm
One theory is that the main cause of peril in even hands-free cellphone conversations that the person not in the car cannot see when the driver is in a challenging driving situation and it is time to be quiet. Maybe talk-to-text will be a little bit safer. Trusting a central server to properly translate voice into text sounds dangerous though.
skocpol - February 21, 2010 at 12:38 pm
The issue is mind-share. Any non-passive multitasking is dangerous when one of the tasks requires flexible but continuous attention. When driving, watch for trouble ahead, police behind, cars in your blind spot, people in cars that pass you, and glimpses of nice scenery. There’s plenty of relevant stuff to do. You can let familiar music flow by, but don’t get lulled into falling asleep! If you are worrying about something and miss your exit, you need to refocus. Of course, I don’t understand how people can talk so much on cellphones anyway. Maybe it *is* mindless, passive drivel!
mabeelrc - February 22, 2010 at 11:08 am
Still, the one who receives the text message has to READ it. If he or she is also driving, then what’s the advantage? Perhaps the receiver should also have this technology available. it would work like this: Voice–>Text–>Text–Voice. This technology could be called Making-A-Telephone-Call.