Dafydd Ravenscroft

Mr. Dafydd Ravenscroft


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

6Years (2021-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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31 December 2021 in Sensors
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
DRDafydd Ravenscroft
Dafydd Ravenscroft
IPIoannis Prattis
Ioannis Prattis
TKTharun Reddy Kandukuri
Tharun Reddy Kandukuri
YSYarjan Abdul Samad
Yarjan Abdul Samad
GMGiorgio Mallia
Giorgio Mallia
Luigi Giuseppe OcchipintiLuigi Giuseppe Occhipinti
Luigi Giuseppe Occhipinti
Silent speech recognition is the ability to recognise intended speech without audio information. Useful applications can be found in situations where sound waves are not produced or cannot be heard. Examples include speakers with physical voice impairments or environments in which audio transference is not reliable or secure. Developing a device which can detect non-auditory signals and map them to intended phonation could be used to develop a device to assist in such situations. In this work, we propose a graphene-based strain gauge sensor which can be worn on the throat and detect small muscle movements and vibrations. Machine learning algorithms then decode the non-audio signals and create a prediction on intended speech. The proposed strain gauge sensor is highly wearable, utilising graphene’s unique and beneficial properties including strength, flexibility and high conductivity. A highly flexible and wearable sensor able to pick up small throat movements is fabricated by screen printing graphene onto lycra fabric. A framework for interpreting this information is proposed which explores the use of several machine learning techniques to predict intended words from the signals. A dataset of 15 unique words and four movements, each with 20 repetitions, was developed and used for the training of the machine learning algorithms. The results demonstrate the ability for such sensors to be able to predict spoken words. We produced a word accuracy rate of 55% on the word dataset and 85% on the movements dataset. This work demonstrates a proof-of-concept for the viability of combining a highly wearable graphene strain gauge and machine leaning methods to automate silent speech recognition.