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October 18, 2005
Carnegie Mellon and University of Karlsruhe To
Demonstrate Breakthroughs In Cross Lingual Communication and Speech-to-Speech
Translation
PITTSBURGHCarnegie Mellon University and the University of Karlsruhe's joint International Center for Advanced Communication Technologies (InterACT) will hold an international videoconference at 9 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 27, to demonstrate new breakthroughs in cross-lingual communication. The videoconference will take place in room 3305 Newell-Simon Hall on the
Carnegie Mellon campus, and simultaneously at the University of Karlsruhe.
InterACT director, computer science professor Alex Waibel, who is a faculty
member at both institutions, will demonstrate domain-independent,
speech-to-speech translation in a lecture, which will be simultaneously
translated from English to Spanish to German.
According to Waibel, current speech-to-speech translation systems allow
translation of spontaneous speech in very limited situations, like making hotel
reservations or tourist shopping, but they cannot enable translation of large,
open domains like lectures, television broadcasts, meetings or telephone
conversations. The new technology developed by InterACT researchers fills that
gap and makes it possible to extend such systems to other languages and lecture
types.
Waibel also will illustrate new ways of delivering speech translation
services beyond traditional headsets and an audio system. One involves an array
of small ultra-sound speakers that can deliver a narrow beam of audio in a
foreign language to a particular individual, while others nearby hear the same
speech in the original language as it's spoken without disturbance.
Foreign language translation also can be produced through a system that
tracks and measures electrical currents on the surface of a person's cheek and
throat as they mouth words instead of speaking aloud. The system takes the
signal off of electrodes that recognize muscle movement, translates and delivers
I as audible sound in another language.
"Thus," said Waibel, "by moving our articulators in English, we can
demonstrate the generation of speech in Spanish, German or other languages. In
the future, such transducers could be implanted, enabling a speaker to produce
any language at will."
In addition to these new technological breakthroughs, Waibel and his
colleagues will also demonstrate other developments, including delivery of
speech via heads-up display and text, a PDA-based pocket interpreter for
fieldwork such as medical relief or military operations, as well as simultaneous
translation of videos of European Parliamentary sessions.
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More information about the InterACT, Carnegie Mellon University and the
University of Karlsruhe at the web link indicated above.
regards,
Jeff
============================================== Jeff Allen Quality Program Manager, Product Division, Mycom France Advisor, MultiLingual Computing & Technology magazine Advisor, LINGUIST List Paris, France e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.geocities.com/jeffallenpubs/about-jeffallen.htm |
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