NasoVoce: A Nose-Mounted Low-Audibility Speech Interface for Always-Available Speech Interaction

TL;DR

NasoVoce is a nose-mounted speech interface that combines acoustic and vibration sensors to enable discreet, low-volume speech recognition suitable for always-available AI interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel nose-bridge-mounted device that fuses acoustic and vibration signals for robust, low-audibility speech recognition in wearable AI interfaces.

Findings

Improved speech recognition accuracy over existing methods.

Robustness to environmental noise demonstrated.

Effective capture of whispered speech signals.

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.