Wearable Photonic-based Artificial Throat for Speech Detection and Recognition

A wearable photonic-based artificial throat was proposed through the integration of optical fiber sensing and AI technologies. An optical fiber sensor, composed of polymer optical fibers (POFs) and elastomer optical fiber, serves as the core of the intelligent artificial throat. The optical fiber sensor is encapsulated within Dragon Skin 20 films, whose elastic modulus closely mimics that of human tissue, as a photonic-based artificial throat. This artificial throat exhibits a rapid response time, enabling it to detect minute vibrations such as airflow and muscle vibrations, which can then be converted into controlled sound. Finally, an AI algorithm was integrated with the proposed artificial throat, enabling the recognition of three monosyllabic words ("good," "age," and "book") with 100% accuracy. This successful combination of optical fiber sensing technology with AI demonstrates its applicability to the emerging field of voice control.