Smart earbuds can detect facial expressions

Researchers have developed a pair of earbuds fitted with an electrical field sensing device that is capable of detecting your facial expressions and transforming them into smartphone commands. The team foresees the technology being used by those with impaired movements and as a way to encourage people to stop using their phone while driving. The team decided to use the ear, as'hiding a sensing device in a subtle ear plug is less obtrusive than other approaches demonstrated in literature'. The system consist of an ear plug plus a reference electrode (a clothes peg that has to be attached to the ear lobe) and four sensing shields that are connected to an Arduino which runs on a 9V battery supply and transmits data via Bluetooth. When someone smiles, winks an eye or moves their head, muscles in the ears also move, which deforms the earbud and creates significant change in the electric field'that can be mapped to corresponding face movements'.