新奇事件簿 电脑可将脑电波转换成文字

Scientists may soon be able to interpret what someone is saying simply by analysing their brainwaves as they speak. This revolutionary advance in neuroscience would help millions of people who suffer from communication problems and neurological disorders¹. The scientists developed a form of artificial intelligence that can decode² brainwaves and translate them into text. Algorithms take the brain activity created as a person speaks and translates it in real time into sentences on a screen. The scientists are from the University of California, San Francisco. They say their algorithms have a 97 per cent translation accuracy rate but are working hard to improve on this.

科学家们可能很快就能通过分析说话人的脑电波来翻译他们所说的话。神经科学的这一革命性进展将帮助数百万患有沟通障碍和神经障碍的人。科学家们开发了一种人工智能，能够解码脑电波，将其转换成文字。这些算法将人说话时产生的大脑活动实时转换成屏幕上的文字。这群科学家来自加州大学旧金山分校。他们表示他们算法的翻译准确率为97%，但他们正在努力改进。

The scientists say they are at the early stages of being able to machine-translate everything someone says. The software used in their experiments matched features of speech that were repeated frequently to parts and shapes of the mouth. These included elements of English speech such as vowels³, consonants⁴ and commands. The experiments were limited to around 40 short and simply-constructed spoken sentences. The scientists said: "Although we should like the decoder to learn and exploit the regularities⁵ of the language, it remains⁶ to show how many data would be required to expand from our tiny languages to a more general form of English."

这些科学家们表示，要让机器能够翻译人们的每句话，他们还处在该目标的早期阶段。他们实验中所用的软件与嘴部和嘴巴形状频繁重复的语言特征相匹配。这些包括英语演讲的元素，如元音、辅音和祈使句。实验限定在约40个简短且结构简单的的口语句子。科学家们表示：“尽管我们希望解码器能学习和利用语言的规律，但仍需证明需要多少数据才能从我们的极少量的语言扩展到更常见的英语形式。”

1 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 decode   

vt.译（码），解（码）

参考例句：

• All he had to do was decode it and pass it over.他需要做的就是将它破译然后转给他人。
• The secret documents were intercepted and decoded.机密文件遭截获并被破译。

3 vowels   

n.元音，元音字母( vowel的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Note the various sounds of vowels followed by r. 注意r跟随的各种元音的发音。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

4 consonants   

n.辅音，子音( consonant的名词复数 )；辅音字母

参考例句：

• Consonants are frequently assimilated to neighboring consonants. 辅音往往被其邻近的辅音同化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 regularities   

规则性( regularity的名词复数 )； 正规； 有规律的事物； 端正

参考例句：

• They felt that all the regularities in nature have a purpose. 他们感到自然界一切有规律的事物均有目的性。
• Our experience meanwhile is all shot through with regularities. 我们的经验同时也都具有规律性。 来自哲学部分

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。