Mimi Switch controls Electronic Devices with Facial Expressions

A wink, a smile or a raised eyebrow could soon change the music on your iPod or start up the washing machine. All this is possible because of a new Japanese gadget.

The device looks like a normal set of headphones but is fitted with a set of infrared sensors that measure tiny movements inside the ear that result from different facial expressions.

The gadget called the Mimi Switch or Ear Switch- is connected to a micro-computer that can control electronic devices, essentially making it a hands-free remote control for anything.

Acording to Mimi Switch inventor, Kazuhiro Taniguchi of Osaka University, “You will be able to turn on room lights or swing your washing machine into action with a quick twitch of your mouth”.

“An iPod can start or stop music when the wearer sticks his tongue out, like in the famous Einstein picture. If he opens his eyes wide, the machine skips to the next tune. A wink with the right eye makes it go back”.

“The Ear Switch can be programmed to run with various other facial expressions, such as a wriggle of the nose or a smile”.

The Mimi Switch could also store and interpret data and get to know its user.

The researcher Kazuhiro Taniguchi said, “It monitors natural movements of the face in everyday life and accumulates data. If it judges that you aren't smiling enough, it may play a cheerful song”.

The device could also have serious applications to make people's lives safer and easier.
“If the system is mounted on a hearing aid for elderly people, it could tell how often they sneeze or whether they are eating regularly,” said Kazuhiro Taniguchi.

"If it believes they are not well, it could send a warning message to relatives."

The device could also serve as a remote control for appliances for physically disabled people, from cameras and computers to air conditioners, or alert medical services if a person has a fit.

The Ear Switch or the Mimi Switch follows on from an earlier device called the Temple Switch that was small enough to fit inside a pair of eyeglasses and also read the flick of an eyelid.

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