Japanese firm develops spoken word display technology

A Japanese firm has developed what it claims is the world's first technology to enable users to display their spoken words on a tablet or a smartphone by dragging their finger on the screen.

Mitsubishi Electric claims to have combined touch-technology and voice recognition to develop an application that helps to "overcome hearing disabilities and linguistic barriers", a company official told EFE news on Tuesday.

To use this technology, which is supported on Android platforms, one needs to press down on the screen for a while before running a finger along the surface while speaking.

The spoken words appear on screen just behind the moving fingertip, tracing the same line, whether straight or a curve.

When the screen is pressed twice, the system analyses the written text, and can even read it aloud or translate it in 10 different languages -- Japanese, English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, German, Swedish, French, Italian and Polish.

The company expects this technology will help those with hearing disabilities as well as tourists.

Mitsubishi, which is still deciding a date for launching the technology, seeks to collaborate with certain institutions, including universities, to test the application.

It said it is looking to finalise the testing by the end of the next financial year, which in Japan falls on March 31, 2017, and commercialise it as soon as possible.