Grunts to control computers

System measures the pitch and duration of sounds

Grunts and sighs could become the way to control computers or to navigate through call centre systems.

Dr Takeo Igarashi, of Brown University in the US, reckons that a system based on simple sounds instead of words would be more efficient than conventional voice recognition software.

He says it would be ideal for skipping through tracks on a CD player or browsing the internet.

So, for example, when you say "move down, ahhhh", a document on the computer screen would scroll down while the sound continues.

By increasing the pitch of your voice, the scrolling speed increases. When you stop speaking, the scrolling ends.

Ahs and umms

Mr Igarashi is developing the system because voice recognition programs often failed to accurately capture words.

"We tried to see what we could do without words," he told New Scientist.

We tried to see what we could do without words

Takeo Igarashi, Brown University

Voice recognition programs work by measuring variations in spoken commands. His system would work by measuring the pitch and duration of grunt-like sounds liked "ah" and "umm".

Dr Igarashi believes a quick "uh oh" could produce an Undo command much faster than having to use a mouse.

He believes it could even be used in the home to control your television. So you would say "volume up, ahhhhhh", and the volume of the TV would rise while the "ahhh" continues.

But it is doubtful whether people working in crowded offices would be willing to grunt away in front of their colleagues. The researcher is due to present his ideas at a computing conference in Orlando, Florida, next month.