Professor Tanja Shultz of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has invented a device which allows people to have phone conversations without actually speaking anything out loud. The system, called Silent Communication, requires people to simply move their mouths without speaking, thus creating a voiceless interaction between cell phone users.

Switched elaborates on the working of the device:

Utilizing nine electrodes stuck to the user’s face, the prototype detects the electrical potentials from the muscles that move during speech. The electromyographic pulses are amplified and sent wirelessly to a laptop, which then translates the signals into a synthesized speaking voice.

Professor Shultz believes that the device could benefit those who have lost their speaking ability.

BBC: “Lip reading mobile promises end to noisy phone calls”

[via Switched]