A digital speech processor with lateral inhibition for artificial hearing

An 8-channel, real-time vibrotactile digital vocoder for artificial hearing is developed. The device is based on a TMS320C25 digital signal processor chip and uses the FFT spectral analysis technique. To improve tactile recognition, a lateral inhibition filter is implemented. Live and taped speech are used to evaluate the performance of the device. Preliminary results indicate that important speech features, such as formants and gaps, are transmitted efficiently by the system.<>