外刊学习：怎样让不说话的人发声

今日导读

在霍金失语后的三十多年里，从使用单个按键的鼠标操作电脑打字，到用红外探测器识别其脸颊肌肉的运动，他的“说话”方式反映了相关科技领域的飞速发展。近日，科学家们试图通过一项全新的技术，来解码人脑的神经信号，并将其直接转化成语音。这项成果由加州大学旧金山分校的神经科学教授及其团队发表在顶级学术期刊《自然》上。这项技术在未来有望能够帮助到更多的失语者。让我们跟着 Roxy 老师一起来看看《经济学人》对这个研究成果的报道。

新闻原文

How to give voice to the speechless

 The Economist

Of the many memorable things about Stephen Hawking, perhaps the most memorable of all was his conversation. The amyotrophic lateral sclerosis that confined him to a wheelchair also stopped him talking, so instead a computer synthesised what became a world-famous voice. It was, though, a laborious process.

A better way to communicate would be to read the brain of a paralysed person directly and then translate those readings into synthetic speech. A study published in Nature this week, by Edward Chang, a neurosurgeon at the University of California, San Francisco, describes just such a technique. By measuring the brain signals that control vocal-tract muscles, Dr Chang has been able to use a computer to synthesise speech accurately.

The volunteers for Dr Chang’s study were five people with epilepsy who had electrodes implanted into their brains as part of their treatment. He and his colleagues used these electrodes to record the volunteers’ brain activity while those volunteers spoke several hundred sentences out loud.

To convert those signals into speech they did two things. First, they trained a computer program to recognise what the signals meant. Then, when the program had learned the relevant associations, they used it to translate electrode signals into vocal-tract configurations, and thus into sound.

The principle proved, Dr Chang and his team went on to show that their system could synthesise speech even when a volunteer mimed sentences, rather than speaking them out loud.

So far, Dr Chang has worked with people able to speak normally. The next stage will be to ask whether his system can work for those who cannot speak.

带着问题听讲解

张医生的实验是如何完成的？

-lepsy 这个后缀的意思是什么？

你对“脑机接口”技术的未来有什么期待？

新闻正文

How to give voice tothe speechless

如何让不能说话的人发声

Of the many memorable things about Stephen Hawking, perhaps the most memorable of all was his conversation. The amyotrophic lateral sclerosis that confined him to a wheelchair also stopped him talking, so instead a computer synthesised what became a world-famous voice. It was, though, a laborious process.

关于史蒂芬·霍金令人难忘的事情有很多，其中最令人难以忘怀的可能就是他说话的方式了。肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症不仅将他禁锢在轮椅上，还让他无法说话。因此，取而代之的是，计算机合成了他的声音，并闻名于世。但是，这个（合成的）过程非常耗时费力。

A better way to communicate would be to read the brain of a paralysed person directly and then translate those readings into synthetic speech. A study published in Nature this week, by Edward Chang, a neurosurgeon at the University of California, San Francisco, describes just such a technique. By measuring the brain signals that control vocal-tractmuscles, Dr Chang has been able to use a computer to synthesise speech accurately.

另外一个更好的沟通方式是直接读取瘫痪者的大脑，再将读取的信息翻译成合成语音。本周《自然》期刊上发表的一篇研究描述的恰好是这样一项技术，这篇文章的作者是加州大学旧金山分校的神经外科医生爱德华·张（音译）。通过测量控制声道肌肉的大脑信号，张医生已经能够使用计算机精确合成语音。

The volunteers for Dr Chang’s study were five people with epilepsy who had electrodesimplanted into their brains as part of their treatment. He and his colleagues used these electrodes to record the volunteers’ brain activity while those volunteers spoke several hundred sentences out loud.

张医生研究的（受试）志愿者是 5 名癫痫症患者，作为治疗的一部分，他们的大脑（皮层）被植入了电极。志愿者们大声说出几百条句子的同时，张医生和他的同事利用这些电极记录志愿者的大脑活动。

To convert those signals intospeech they did two things. First, they trained a computer program to recognise what the signals meant. Then, when the program had learned the relevant associations, they used it to translate electrode signals into vocal-tract configurations, and thus into sound.

为了将这些（神经）信号转换为语音，研究人员做了两件事情。首先，他们训练了一个计算机程序来识别这些（神经）信号的含义。接着，当程序学习了相关的联系之后，研究人员就用它将电极信号翻译成声道结构，从而转变成语音。

The principle proved, Dr Chang and his team went on to show that their system could synthesise speech even when a volunteer mimed sentences, rather than speaking them out loud.

验证了原理之后，张医生和他的团队继续（向我们）展示了：甚至当志愿者只对口型而不是大声念出句子的时候，他们研发的系统也可以合成语音。

So far, Dr Chang has worked with people able to speak normally. The next stage will be to ask whether his system can work for those who cannot speak.

迄今为止，张医生的受试对象仅限于能够正常说话的人。下一阶段（他）将探索其系统对不能说话的人是否也能奏效。

重点词汇

give voice to sb.
让某人发声；让某人表达意见或情感
例句：I am trying to give voice to everyone.

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症
缩写：ALS
相关词汇：amyotrophic（肌肉萎缩的）
相关词汇：lateral（侧面的）
相关词汇：sclerosis（身体器官的硬化）
词根词缀：amyo-（没有肌肉的）
词根词缀：-trophic（有营养的）

文化补充：俗称渐冻症，患者的大脑会慢慢丧失控制身体运动的能力，疾病发展到晚期会造成发音、吞咽和呼吸上的障碍，但这不影响病人的思维，他们的脑力方面和正常人一样。

confine
/kənˈfaɪn/
v. 把…局限在，限制
搭配短语：confine A to B
例句：Poverty confines my imagination.

synthesise
/ˈsɪnθəsaɪz/
v. 合成
相关词汇：synthesize（美式拼写）
词性拓展：synthetic (adj.)
例句：There are many vitamins that the body cannot synthesise itself.

laborious
/ləˈbɔːriəs/
adj. 耗时费力的；艰巨的，艰难的
词根词缀：labor（n. 劳动，劳力）
搭配短语：a laborious task（一项艰巨的任务）
labor 搭配短语：Labor Day（五一劳动节）

paralysed
/ˈpærəlaɪzd/
adj. 麻痹的，瘫痪的；不知所措的
搭配短语：paralysed from the waist down
例句：She was paralysed with fear.

synthetic
/sɪnˈθetɪk/
adj. 合成的，人造的
搭配短语：synthetic drugs（合成药物）
搭配短语：synthetic material（合成材料）

vocal-tract
声道

文化补充：人类的声道肌肉有一百多块，包括嘴唇、下巴、舌头等控制说话的部位。我们说话时，首先大脑发出信号，给控制声道的肌肉下指令，这些肌肉收到指令之后，我们才会发出声音，开口说话。

epilepsy
/ˈepɪlepsi/
n. 癫痫，羊痫疯，羊角风
词根词缀：epi-（在…之上）
词根词缀：-lepsy（拿，抓住）

文化补充：“癫痫”，俗称“羊癫疯”，是一种常见的神经疾病，一般由大脑细胞异常放电引起。

electrode
/ɪˈlektroʊd/
n. 电极
词根词缀：electro-；electr-（跟电有关）
相关词汇：electricity（电能）
相关词汇：electrician（电工）

implant
/ɪmˈplænt/
v.（手术）植入，移植
搭配短语：implant a microchip in a human’s body

convert A into B
将 A 转换成 B
例句：They converted the spare bedroom intoa study.

association
/əˌsoʊsiˈeɪʃn/
n. 联系，关联
英文释义：a connection or relationship between people or things
例句：Smoking has a close association with lung cancer.

configuration
/kənˌfɪɡjəˈreɪʃn/
n. 构造，结构；布局
相关词汇：configure（v. 装配，装置）
例句：Scientists know little about the configuration of the moon’s surface.

mime
/maɪm/
v. 摆口型；假唱
英文释义：to pretend to say something without making a sound
例句：Some singers on television mime to pre-recorded tapes.

拓展阅读

脑机接口（Brain Computer Interface）

若说脑机接口听起来很陌生，那么人工耳蜗大家就比较熟悉了，而它就是脑机接口的应用之一。脑机接口技术（简称 BCI ）是在人或动物的大脑与外部设备间创建的直接连接通路。目前来讲，脑机研究大致可分为两种：非侵入式和侵入式。

非侵入式装置可通过做成头盔等穿戴设备佩戴于人体，靠装置上的信号设备采集大脑发出的信号波。这种方式虽然方便，但所采集到的信号较不稳定。因此，侵入式研究试图将脑机接口直接植入大脑灰质，让人体直接跟机器连接，获得质量较高的神经信号。但侵入式研究也有缺陷，它容易引发免疫反应，导致信号质量衰退。

无论是非侵入式还是侵入式，目前的科技水平还不足以将脑机接口技术投入广泛应用，但这种技术已经成为了未来的一个研究方向，所取得的每一点进展都将在医疗领域和人类生活的智能辅助领域发挥巨大的作用。