Front End | News EAO introduces configurable, modular in-cabin keypads D
eveloped in accordance with the IATF 16949 automotive quality standard, EAO’s latest compact two- and six-pushbutton Series 09 keypads feature a modular design suitable for reliable and safe E1 operation in heavy duty in-cabin vehicular applications. The new modular Series 09 keypads feature impressive application-specific configuration options for both the button illumination and the communication interfaces and offer customers the ability to easily customise both the selection and arrangement of the symbols. Application areas include both the classic HMI
inside a vehicle, such as switching headlights on/off and operating the windscreen wipers, as well as application specific switching in special vehicles.
Series 09 in-cabin six pushbutton keypads are available in SUPER, PLUS and BASIC variants, differing only in terms of illumination options and the communication interface. All three variants are available with CAN (Controller Area Network) bus connectivity. Customers can easily customise the new keypads thanks to a variety of illumination options and interchangeable ISO 7000 or custom symbols. For additional application
flexibility EAO also offers the BASIC product in a two-button format that is suitable for use as a replacement for conventional rocker switches in applications that call for an ultra-
compact double switch located remote from the primary control panel.
www.eao.com Next generation of hearing aids could read lips through masks A
new system capable of reading lips with remarkable accuracy even when speakers are wearing face masks could help create a
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new generation of hearing aids. An international team of engineers and computing scientists developed the technology, which pairs radio-frequency sensing with artificial intelligence for the first time to identify lip movements. Currently, hearing aids assist hearing- impaired people by amplifying all ambient sounds around them. In noisy situations such as cocktail parties hearing aids’ broad spectrum of amplification can make it difficult for users to focus on specific sounds, like conversation with a particular person. One solution is to make ‘smart’ hearing aids, which combine conventional audio amplification with a second device to collect additional data for improved performance.
In a new paper, titled ‘Pushing the Limits of Remote RF Sensing by Reading Lips Under the Face Mask’, published in Nature Communications, the University of Glasgow-led team outline how they set out to harness cutting-edge sensing technology to read lips. Their system preserves privacy by collecting only radio-frequency data, with no accompanying video footage.
To develop the system, the researchers asked male and female volunteers to repeat the five vowel sounds (A, E, I, O, and U) first while unmasked and then while wearing a surgical mask.
As the volunteers repeated the vowel sounds, their faces were scanned using radio- frequency signals from both a dedicated radar sensor and a wifi transmitter. Their faces were also scanned while their lips remained still. The 3,600 samples of data collected during the scans was used to ‘teach’ machine
learning and deep learning algorithms how to recognise the characteristic lip and mouth movements associated with each vowel sound. Because the radio-frequency signals can easily
pass through the volunteers’ masks, the algorithms could also learn to read masked users’ vowel formation.
Wifi data was correctly interpreted by the learning algorithms up to 95 per cent of the time for unmasked lips, and 80 per cent for masked. Meanwhile, the radar data was interpreted correctly up to 91 per cent without a mask, and 83 per cent of the time with a mask.
Dr Qammer Abbasi from the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering, and the paper’s lead author, said: “Given the ubiquity and affordability of Wi-Fi technologies, the results are highly encouraging which suggests that this technique has value both as a standalone technology and as a component in future multimodal hearing aids.”
https://www.gla.ac.uk/
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