[Noisebridge-discuss] speechjammer - we need one for meetings

[Daniel Pitts]

Wow, $13 app.  I sometimes find my speech is "almost stutter", but it's 
never been enough to cause real problems in my life, though I do find it 
affects my self-esteem. Never been diagnosed with anything, but if there 
is an app to help, I'd like to check it out.

I did an app store search for DAF, and found a few apps. There was a 
free one, DAF Professional.  Any experience with that one? Is this an 
instance of YGWYPF, or is it possible I'll get real benefit from the 
free version?

On 3/3/12 4:12 AM, Duncan wrote:
> There's an iPhone app for that:  DAF Assistant, made by Artefact, 
> LLC.  The program also includes Frequency-shifting Auditory Feedback 
> (FAF), which when used with DAF, creates the so-called "chorus effect" 
> which further boosts the beneficial properties of DAF for stuttering, 
> slowing down speech, increasing speech fluency (i.e. reducing 
> mumbling), implementing regional accent reduction, increasing 
> confidence levels, and developing good speaking habits.  I've used it 
> and it does work incredibly well for achieving those things.
>
> I've never experienced the speech jammer effect alluded to in the 
> article, but then I'm from the South where we learn young not to talk 
> when you don't know what the hell you're talking about.  Without such 
> clarity of thought though, it might well.
>
> Interesting... Thanks!
>
> On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 11:59 AM, Jake <jake at spaz.org 
> <mailto:jake at spaz.org>> wrote:
>
>     we can just build one, it's pretty simple technology.
>
>     http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/242444.php
>
>     "SpeechJammer" Invention Stops A Person Talking Mid-Sentence
>
>     Featured Article
>     Main Category: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
>     Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry;  Hearing / Deafness
>     Article Date: 02 Mar 2012 - 11:00 PST
>
>     Healthcare Prof:
>
>     Two researchers in Japan have invented a "SpeechJammer" device
>     that can
>     stop a person talking in mid-sentence, by just projecting back to them
>     "their own utterances at a delay of a few hundred milliseconds". The
>     device does not stop them talking permanently, it is just that
>     they become
>     so confused, they can't finish their sentence and begin to stutter
>     or just
>     shut up.
>
>     The two researchers are Kazutaka Kurihara, a media interaction
>     research
>     scientist at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and
>     Technology, and Koji Tsukada, an assistant professor at Ochanomizu
>     University, and a researcher at JST PRESTO, a program that aims to
>     "cultivate the seeds of precursory science and technology".
>
>     They describe their prototype SpeechJammer, and the results of some
>     experiments, in a paper published on 28 February on arVix, an e-print
>     service owned, operated and quality controlled by Cornell University.
>
>     The researchers say the device causes no physical discomfort to the
>     interrupted speaker, and the effect stops as soon as they stop
>     speaking.
>
>     The prototype SpeechJammer looks like a black cube about the size of a
>     shoebox mounted on a shaft which acts as a handle. The box contains a
>     direction-sensitive speaker, and on top of it is a direction-sensitive
>     microphone.
>
>     On Kazutaka Kurihara's personal website there is a short video
>     demonstrating the use of the device in two scenarios.
>
>     The first scenario shows a small group of people in an office,
>     working at
>     their computers, when one of them receives a call on her
>     cellphone. The
>     conversation begins to irritate the others, and then one of them
>     decides
>     to take action. He points the SpeechJammer at the irritating talker,
>     interrupting her mid-sentence in her cellphone conversation,
>     whereupon she
>     appears confused, and then stops.
>
>     In the other scenario, a lecturer is talking and his lecture has
>     run over
>     time. Many of his students are looking quite bored and fed up and
>     one of
>     them takes the SpeechJammer, points it at the lecturer, and he
>     trips over
>     his own words and stutters, interrupting his flow.
>
>     The SpeechJammer works on the principle of Delayed Audio Feedback
>     or DAF.
>     There is a theory that when we speak, we use the sound of our own
>     voice
>     uttering the words to help us. But, if that "playback" is artificially
>     delayed, it interrupts the cognitive processing that helps us
>     maintain our
>     flow. In fact, there is a theory that something akin to DAF is what
>     happens to people who stutter, and it is known that artificially
>     induced
>     DAF can help reduce stuttering.
>
>     In their paper the researchers describe how they experimented with two
>     speech contexts: one where the speaker was reading news out loud and
>     another that was a "spontaneous monologue".
>
>     It appears that speech jamming is more successful, with this
>     prototype, in
>     the news out loud than in the monologue context, and also, it became
>     obvious that it never works when meaningless sound is uttered,
>     like when
>     someone says "Ahhh" over a long period of time.
>
>     With reference to research on communication and decision making,
>     Kurihara
>     and Tsukada point out that applying rules and constraints on verbal
>     contributions can change the properties of the discussion, and
>     they also
>     mention how "negative features" of speech can be "barriers toward
>     peaceful
>     communication".
>
>     They propose that using the SpeechJammer to place a constraint on
>     communication, by simply making "speech difficult for some people", it
>     might "bring meaningful changes to communication patterns in
>     discussions".
>
>     Such a system "points the way to promising future research relating to
>     discussion dynamics," they write.
>
>     In their paper, the researchers focus very much on the science: the
>     physics of the device and how it might be improved to deal with
>     various
>     parameters, plus the science of communication, and make no mention
>     of the
>     ethical and legal aspects of developing a machine that makes
>     people stop
>     talking.
>
>     Written by Catharine Paddock PhD
>     Copyright: Medical News Today
>     Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
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