Facebook is working on a technology for the people. It will help people hear with their skin and type with their brain.
Facebook confirms that the company wants people to hear with their skin and type with their brain. Business Insider reported Facebook believes that with the use of a brain-computer-interface, a technology that will let people communicate using their minds, both will be possible.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg also mentioned that the project was part of the company's Building 8, a consumer hardware lab. Because the project was set privately, little was only known until Facebook revealed the first two projects of the division in California.
To get to the project, 60 scientists are working for a noninvasive system that would let people type 100 words per minute with the use of brain waves. More intensively is the project that would let people hear through their skin.
According to The Verge, Regina Dugan, the head of the Building 8 research said that the goal of Facebook is "something as simple as a yes-no brain click." Moreover, these brain-computer interfaces project of Facebook could also be used to help people with severe paralysis for it may act as a speech prosthetic and at the same time, allow the deaf to hear.
"Eventually, we want to turn it into a wearable technology that can be manufactured at scale," Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post. While Regina Dugan on her blog post mentioned that both of the Facebook projects are "silent speech interfaces."
Specifically, the "Type With Your Brain" project of Facebook has a goal of creating a system that is coming straight from the speech center of the brain and is 5X faster than how people type on their smartphones. While the "Hear With Your Skin" project of Facebook will direct people to hear with their skin, that would greatly benefit the deaf, a little similar to the Braille for the blind.
