SYNTHESIZER FOR THE COMMUNICATION-IMPAIRED

A PALM-SIZED KEYING UNIT HAS BEEN DESIGNED AND BUILT BY US WHICH RESPONDS TO COMBINED THUMB AND FINGER MOTIONS. IN THE PROTOTYPE NOW UNDER DEVELOPMENT, THIS HANDHELD UNIT 9X7X1.5 CM ITSELF CONTAINS A POWERFUL 64180 MICROPROCESSOR WHICH, INADDITION TO READING AND DECODING THUMB-AND FINGER-POSITION INPUT, CAN RUN AT CLOCK SPEEDS (8MHZ) COMPATIBLE WITH THE RECREATION OF HIGH-QUALITY SPEECH FROM DIGITAL RECORDINGS OF NORMAL SPEAKERS. IN THE PROPOSED RESEARCH, 1) A 12- BIT HIGH-SPEED DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER AND AUDIO OUTPUT STAGES WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO THE KEYING UNIT COMPUTER, 2) SAMPLES OF A FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH PHONEME SET WILL BE DIGITIZED AND ANALYZED ON LABORATORY EQUIPMENT, AND 3) 64180MACHINE LANGUAGE PROGRAMS WILL BE DEVISED TO OUTPUT THESE SAMPLES SEQUENTIALLY TO FORM UNLIMITED-VOCABULARY SPEECH. FINALLY, 4) THE PROGRAMS AND SAMPLED PHONEMES WILL BE WRITTEN TO A HIGH-DENSITY EPROM CHIP FOR INSTALLATION IN THEPORTABLE KEYING UNIT, SO THAT THIS SPEECH CAN BE GENERATED IN REAL TIME IN RESPONSE TO USER COMMANDS.