We introduce the new silent-voice input system which requires neither exhalation nor vocal cord vibration. This system consists of an electric vibrator which produces original sound and a microphone which receives speech sounds produced in the oral cavity by both the original sound and articulation movement using tongue and lips. The small vibrator is attached to the skin near user's neck, and the (contact- type) microphone is put on the skin of the adjacent area. The vibration produced by the electric vibrator in stead of vocal cords is conducted to the oral cavity, then the speech sounds are generated by articulation motion. They are received by the microphone, then transmitted to telecommunication equipments or information processing units. Speech information can be input to the device without any leak of audible sound to outside when the sound level of the vibrator is adjusted to the low level in which nobody around can hear the sound. This system can prevent people around the device from annoying noise. Also, since the speech sound can not be heard by the people around, the talker can keep what is said private. This system is also useful when the voice input to the computer system is used. The recognition accuracy of the computer will improve, because the sound from the electric vibrator does not have speech quality difference among users. The theory and applications of this system is presented in this paper.
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