Human Hearing System: When an ear witness decides the case

The New York Times (USA) has an excellent article on human speech and hearing and how the vision system interacts with hearing.

Enjoy!

Filtering: Video clip explains Auto-Tune software

Nova's ScienceNOW by PBS (Public Broadcasting Service, USA) has an informative video clip on Andy Hildebrand's pitch-correction software called Auto-Tune. This audio filtering technology is used by professionals to correct mis-sung notes both in the studio and during live performances. It has been compared to Photoshop for voices.

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Audio: Laser microphone patented

Wired.com reports on a new type of microphone designed and patented by David Schwartz. The principle behind the design involves a laser beam measuring the vibrations of smoke particles in a tube as they are deflected by sound. There are two interesting video clips on the Wired.com page - one showing a demonstration of the second prototype and the other showing the components of the device.

Enjoy!

Biometrics: FBI to migrate to multi-modal biometrics

COMPUTERWORLD reports on the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation, USA) announcement at the Biometric Consortium Conference that it will migrate from its IAFIS fingerprint database to a new multi-modal biometric database that will include DNA records, 3-D facial imaging, palm prints, and voice scans.