Voice

Tech startup Ampere has smartened up the humble sunglasses with Dusk, a pair of shades that change tint on demand via a phone app or a button press. A deluxe model also packs built-in speakers and a microphone for making calls.

Face masks are here to stay for a while yet – so you might as well have some fun with them. The JabberMask is a voice-activated wearable packed with LEDs that move like a mouth in time with your speech, and can smile or display emojis on demand.

The US Army is developing a voice interface that allows two-way dialogue between soldiers and autonomous robotic systems. The Joint Understanding and Dialogue Interface (JUDI) is designed to reduce training costs and improve soldier/robot teamwork.

Scientists have recreated the “voice” of a 3,000 year-old mummy by scanning the shape of his vocal tract, 3D printing a replica of it, then hooking it up to an electronic larynx. The resulting sound is a single vowel that's quite eerie.

​​Taking into account even the most horrendous of shower-time singers, the vocal prowess of humans is rarely matched in the animal kingdom. But scientists in Scotland have now found success training grey seals to mimic the human voice and even belt out the melodies to some well-known tunes.

​Music streaming giant Spotify has made its first foray into the world of audio gear. Simply called "Car Thing," this first piece of hardware isn't intended for consumers, but is intended to help the company understand its users' listening habits when behind the wheel.

​Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be a very serious problem, and it unfortunately often goes undiagnosed. New technology could help, however, as it uses artificial intelligence to determine if someone has PTSD – based on their speech.

Vochlea Music's goal in making the Dubler Studio Kit is to help musicians "release the stems of musical ideas trapped in their heads and get them straight into their production software – by simply using their voice."

Robotics company Anki has unveiled Vector, an emotive little fella who’s basically a cross between a smart home assistant and a pet. New Atlas got a hands-on demo, and found Vector to be a versatile home robot that’s a real charmer and might actually chip in around the house.

Amazon has announced the latest in its line of Alexa-enabled streaming devices, the Fire TV Cube, which lets you bark voice commands at the TV and other devices from across the room, and access other Alexa mainstays like weather and sports updates.

As any new parent will quickly confirm, the sound of a crying baby can communicate a multitude of things, from "I'm hungry", to "I'm in pain". A team at UCLA has now developed an innovative app that can identify when a baby is crying and help decode what they're trying to communicate.

Scientists at the MARCS Institute at Western Sydney University have tested a non-invasive artificial larynx and found it capable of generating a high-quality voice.