NasoVoce: A Nose-Mounted Low-Audibility Speech Interface for Always-Available Speech Interaction
Abstract
Silent and whispered speech offer promise for always-available voice interaction with AI, yet existing methods struggle to balance vocabulary size, wearability, silence, and noise robustness. We present NasoVoce, a nose-bridge–mounted interface that integrates a microphone and a vibration sensor. Positioned at the nasal pads of smart glasses, it unobtrusively captures both acoustic and vibration signals. The nasal bridge, close to the mouth, allows access to bone- and skin-conducted speech and enables reliable capture of low-volume utterances such as whispered speech. While the microphone captures high-quality audio, it is highly sensitive to environmental noise. Conversely, the vibration sensor is robust to noise but yields lower signal quality. By fusing these complementary inputs, NasoVoce generates high-quality speech robust against interference. Evaluation with Whisper Large-v2, PESQ, STOI, and MUSHRA ratings confirms improved recognition and quality. NasoVoce demonstrates the feasibility of a practical interface for always-available, continuous, and discreet AI voice conversations.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Speech and Audio Processing
Speech Recognition and Synthesis
Face recognition and analysis
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- Publisher
- ACM
- Pages
- 1–11
- Publication date
- 13 April 2026