The speak sensing headset
University of Hull's James Gilbert, and his team, have developed a device that interprets facial movement to sound for people who have lost the ability to speak. The idea was to replace the voice-box, which is a valve fitted in the esophagus to give a form a speech, that tends to get clogged over time. The device used magnets placed in the mouth and on the tongue that generates a changing magnetic field that can be sensed by an external headset. The device will then recognize patterns and learn how each particular person moves to say each word. At the moment the device can recognize 50 words.
An interesting feature of the device allows the person to record themselves talking, before the operation or accident that causes the speech loss, and use their own voice for playback. Of course, any other voice can be used in the same way.
The team goal now is to reduce the size of the headset, use Bluetooth for sensor communications, and adjust the mouth based magnets in a way to provide more information.
I know many people who can "read lips." Why not try a optical lip reading method instead of magnets?
Eavesdropper