MIT researchers have developed new smartwatch software that understands
the tone of a conversation, and can tell you if the person is happy,
sad, or neutral based on their speech patterns and vitals.
The researchers demoed this feature on a Samsung Simband
research-friendly wearable, hinting at how future devices could serve as
'social coaches' for people with anxiety or Asperger's syndrome.
Researchers Tuka AlHanai and Mohammad Mahdi Ghassemi have built an
algorithm that can analyse speech and tone in real-time, as the person
speaks.
The video demo shows how the graph fluctuates as a person relays his
story fluently. The experiment was conducted by asking people to wear
the Samsung Simband research device, and tell a sad or happy story.
The device captures high-resolution physiological waveforms to measure
features such as movement, heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow, and
skin temperature. The system also captured audio data and text
transcripts to analyse the speaker's tone, pitch, energy, and
vocabulary.
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