Machines Just Got Better at Lip Reading

Soccer aficionados will never forget the headbutt by French soccer great Zinadine Zidane during the 2006 World Cup final. Caught on video camera, Zidane's attack on Italian player Marco Materazzi after a verbal exchange got him a red ticket. He left the field, making it easier for Italy to become world champions. The world found out later about Materazzi's abusive words of Zidane's female relatives. "If we had good lip-reading technology Zidane's reaction could have been explained or they would've both gotten sent out," says Helen Bear, a computer scientist at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK. "Maybe the match outcome would be different."