An in-sensor communication electronic textile for imperceptible and ultrarobust silent speech

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Authors: Yuchen Lin, Shifan Yu, Lei Liu, Huasen Wang, Yuhui Wang, Mengting Jiang, Gantang Su, Yue Yu, Hongyu Chen, Yanhao Luo, Zijian Huang, Chenwei Li
+9 more Junzhi Yu, Ziquan Guo, Yuhan Su, Zhong Chen, Lichao Yang, Zhenyu Zhao, Qingliang Liao, Yuanjin Zheng, Xinqin Liao
Cited by: 1
References: 50

Abstract

Aphasiacs with impaired vocal organs suffer profound communication barriers, making silent speech decoding essential. Although audible speech is absent, subtle multi-muscle activities are retained. This provides a physiological basis for the sensing modality that reliably decodes silent speech. Yet conventional microphone and piezoelectric films remain susceptible to dispersion-fidelity conflict, external disturbance in the complex environments, and are further constrained by sensing-communication separation. Here, we report an in-sensor communication scarf interface that imperceptibly captures multi-muscle activities and ultrarobustly decodes silent speech. By fusing spoof surface plasmon-driven in-sensor electromagnetic physiological communication with metamaterial topological embroidery, the system establishes exquisite reconciliation between dispersion-regulated spatial selectivity and ultrahigh fidelity (7 fs²), enabling phase-resolved differentiation and precise capture of multi-muscle activities. This minimalist yet informative rich component design radically transcends limitations of sensing-communication separation, microphone, and piezoelectric films, and greatly delivers anti-motion artifact by 24,300%, anti-electromagnetic interference by 46.4 dB, and anti-noise by 33.44 dB in the complex environments. Combining with machine learning, the interface achieves 98.7% recognition and supports assistive interaction and sleep apnea monitoring. The interface bridges metamaterial electromagnetics and human electrophysiology, establishing a transformative in-sensor physiological decoding paradigm for electromagnetic physiological communication and adaptive myogenic interfacing.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials Speech and Audio Processing Phonetics and Phonology Research

Publication details

Journal / source
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
17
Issue
1
Publication date
4 June 2026
Language
EN