These Electronic Earplugs Turn Facial Expressions Into Smartphone Controls

In the future, you may be able to send a text with a wink and reject a call with a frown. That’s because researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research in Rostock and the University of Cologne in Germany have developed a system that senses facial fgestures via an electronic earbud and transforms them into commands for your smartphone.

Though this form factor might seem strange at first, a small wearable device like this is quite unobtrusive and can allow for interaction with another gadget without looking at it. As you can imagine, such an input method could come in handy for those with impaired movement or even while driving.

The aptly named EarFieldSensing (EarFS) project is now in prototype phase, and consists of the smart earbud, a reference electrode attached to the earlobe via a peg, and sensing shields attached to an Arduino. Even at this early stage, they’re able to tell the difference between five expressions — smiling, winking, head turning to the right, opening your mouth, and saying a “shh” sound — with 90% accuracy while sitting.

Perhaps one day when you get a smiley-face emoji, the sender will actually be making the expression in real life! 😊 Until then, you can read more about EarFS in the team’s paper here.

[h/t Daily Mail]