Topic description and stories

Speech bubble

AI reduces ‘communication gap’ for nonverbal people by as much as half

15 Jun 2020

Researchers have used artificial intelligence to reduce the ‘communication gap’ for nonverbal people with motor disabilities who rely on computers to...

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Joseph Priestley: theologian, scientist, clergyman and stammerer

Study unearths Britain’s first speech therapists

22 Oct 2018

On International Stammering Awareness Day (22 October), a new study reveals that Britain’s first speech therapists emerged at least a century earlier...

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Time travelling to the mother tongue

19 Jul 2016

T
he sounds of languages that died thousands of years ago have been brought to life again through technology that uses statistics in a revolutionary...

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Tuning into the melody of speech

15 Oct 2013

In a groundbreaking new study, Cambridge researchers have mapped out the neurobiological basis of a key aspect of human communication: intonation.

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Launch event

Cambridge Language Sciences launched

15 May 2012

The University launched its new Strategic Initiative in Language Sciences at a special one-day conference at Newnham College on 12 May, attended by...

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Oscillogram

Call of the wired

27 Apr 2012

For generations, we have dreamed of machines with artificial intelligence with which we can have real conversations but, despite amazing...

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Functional neuroimaging of the human brain

The communicative brain

29 Nov 2011

What is it about the human brain that makes language possible? Two evolutionary systems working together, say neuroscientists Professor William...

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Music in action

Music – or language in action?

24 Nov 2011

Music is more than just sound. Sharing many features with language, it has all the hallmarks of a communicative system, as Cambridge researchers are...

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Sounds recognised from an audio recording

Smart listeners and smooth talkers

16 Nov 2011

Human-like performance in speech technology could be just around the corner, thanks to a new research project that links three UK universities.

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The Politics of Speechmaking at the Festival of Ideas

The politics of speechmaking

24 Oct 2011

Modern politicians are too stuck in a 24/7 media bubble to make the kind of grand speeches associated with past leaders, a debate on political...

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Standing ovation

What makes a great political speech?

27 Sep 2011

Cambridge Festival of Ideas debate to examine the changing nature of political speeches.

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Magnetic resonance image of the mouth, ear and brain

Asking ‘are you awake?’ with brain imaging

08 Feb 2008

Even though we might be able to hear someone speaking, our powers for understanding what is actually being said switch off as we go to sleep.

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