Handheld One-Way Voice Communication System

There are now 300 languages spoken in the United States and millions of Americans travel abroad each year to foreign countries. Public service officials, military personnel, educators and medical professionals need to be able to communicate with anever-increasing non-English speaking population. In the past it was necessary for a person to be bilingual or use an interpreter. Now, a handheld voice-to-voice phrase translation system (PTS) makes such verbal communication possible. MAI's SBIR Phase Idemonstrated the technical feasibility and marketability of a handheld PTS. MAI's SBIR Phase II objective is to develop and produce a commercially viable handheld PTS. The concept of operations and preliminary design from the SBIR Phase I effort will beused as the basis of the Phase II effort to design, build and demonstrate an engineering prototype system. A detailed production specification for the final design for the commercial handheld PTS will also be completed. MAI is committed to the rapidcommercialization of both the PTS and the handheld PTS. MAI's commercialization strategy is based on developing a superior technical product, effective marketing and distribution and declining unit costs coupled with a first-to-market advantage.