* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Monday, October 6, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Charlie Hunnam Reflects on Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story – Yahoo

    Charlie Hunnam Reveals the Dark Challenges of Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story

    “Reba” cast, then and now: See the stars 24 years later (and who’s reunited for another show) – Yahoo

    “Reba” cast, then and now: See the stars 24 years later (and who’s reunited for another show) – Yahoo

    Why Taylor Swift Name-Dropped Elizabeth Taylor in Her New Album – Yahoo

    Here’s Why Taylor Swift Dropped Elizabeth Taylor’s Name in Her New Album

    Al Roker Gives Olivia Dean an Unexpected ‘New Job’ on the ‘Today’ Show – Yahoo

    Al Roker Shocks Olivia Dean with an Exciting New Role on the ‘Today’ Show

    Books about the arts and some haunts for a Denton October – Denton Record-Chronicle

    Uncover Artistic Treasures and Spooky Adventures to Experience in Denton This October

    Taylor Swift Releases New Album The Life of a Showgirl : Listen and Read the Full Credits – Yahoo

    Taylor Swift Releases New Album The Life of a Showgirl : Listen and Read the Full Credits – Yahoo

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Forget Cowbells. Cows Wear High-Tech Collars Now. – The New York Times

    Ditch the Cowbells: Discover the High-Tech Collars Transforming Cattle Care

    What the Recent Price Surge Means for Figure Technology Solutions After SEC Settlement – Yahoo Finance

    What the Recent Price Surge Reveals About Figure Technology Solutions Following SEC Settlement

    MAC Brings iPad Technology to Football Sidelines Across All 13 Member Schools – Sports Video Group

    MAC Brings iPad Technology to Football Sidelines Across All 13 Member Schools – Sports Video Group

    Technology Is Becoming More Important Than Humans In CX – No Jitter

    Technology Is Becoming More Important Than Humans In CX – No Jitter

    A Tech Expo Shows What China Can Make, but Not Who’ll Buy It All – The New York Times

    Inside China’s Tech Expo: Cutting-Edge Innovations Face Uncertain Demand

    Steampunk Metal Oval Technology Sense Sunglasses Personality Handmade Chain Multicolor Sunglasses UV400 – The San Joaquin Valley Sun

    Steampunk Metal Oval Sunglasses with Handmade Multicolor Chain – Bold UV400 Protection and Unique Style

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Charlie Hunnam Reflects on Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story – Yahoo

    Charlie Hunnam Reveals the Dark Challenges of Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story

    “Reba” cast, then and now: See the stars 24 years later (and who’s reunited for another show) – Yahoo

    “Reba” cast, then and now: See the stars 24 years later (and who’s reunited for another show) – Yahoo

    Why Taylor Swift Name-Dropped Elizabeth Taylor in Her New Album – Yahoo

    Here’s Why Taylor Swift Dropped Elizabeth Taylor’s Name in Her New Album

    Al Roker Gives Olivia Dean an Unexpected ‘New Job’ on the ‘Today’ Show – Yahoo

    Al Roker Shocks Olivia Dean with an Exciting New Role on the ‘Today’ Show

    Books about the arts and some haunts for a Denton October – Denton Record-Chronicle

    Uncover Artistic Treasures and Spooky Adventures to Experience in Denton This October

    Taylor Swift Releases New Album The Life of a Showgirl : Listen and Read the Full Credits – Yahoo

    Taylor Swift Releases New Album The Life of a Showgirl : Listen and Read the Full Credits – Yahoo

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    Forget Cowbells. Cows Wear High-Tech Collars Now. – The New York Times

    Ditch the Cowbells: Discover the High-Tech Collars Transforming Cattle Care

    What the Recent Price Surge Means for Figure Technology Solutions After SEC Settlement – Yahoo Finance

    What the Recent Price Surge Reveals About Figure Technology Solutions Following SEC Settlement

    MAC Brings iPad Technology to Football Sidelines Across All 13 Member Schools – Sports Video Group

    MAC Brings iPad Technology to Football Sidelines Across All 13 Member Schools – Sports Video Group

    Technology Is Becoming More Important Than Humans In CX – No Jitter

    Technology Is Becoming More Important Than Humans In CX – No Jitter

    A Tech Expo Shows What China Can Make, but Not Who’ll Buy It All – The New York Times

    Inside China’s Tech Expo: Cutting-Edge Innovations Face Uncertain Demand

    Steampunk Metal Oval Technology Sense Sunglasses Personality Handmade Chain Multicolor Sunglasses UV400 – The San Joaquin Valley Sun

    Steampunk Metal Oval Sunglasses with Handmade Multicolor Chain – Bold UV400 Protection and Unique Style

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Business

Birdsong breakthrough: Cracking codes for human speech

June 27, 2024
in Business
Birdsong breakthrough: Cracking codes for human speech
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Researchers have decoded bird brain signals into song syllables, potentially revolutionising human vocal prostheses. By studying electrical signals in zebra finch brains, scientists at UC San Diego can predict when and what birds will sing, a breakthrough likened to making the mute speak. This research paves the way for advanced communication prostheses to help those with speech impediments. The similarities between birdsong and human vocalisations could significantly improve the quality of life for individuals with speech disorders, bringing us closer to a brain-machine interface for vocalisation and communication. The article was first published on FirstRand Perspectives.

Decoding birds’ brain signals into syllables of song

By Adrian Ephraim

Could the unique song of a bird someday, miraculously, help give a voice to people who have lost the ability to speak?

Such an achievement would be crowned in the world of vocal prostheses that could see the humble bird’s brain hold the key to a scientific moment of biblical proportions – making the mute speak.

Researchers in the United States have developed the ability to predict when a bird will sing by reading electrical signals in its brain. The work has been hailed as a first step towards building more advanced vocal prostheses that can predict human speech.

The link between how birds and humans vocalise

“We’re studying birdsong in a way that will help us get one step closer to engineering a brain-machine interface for vocalisation and communication,” said Daril Brown, an electrical and computer engineering PhD student at the University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, and the first author of the study, which was published in PLoS Computational Biology.

In this instance, the holy grail is a brain-machine interface for vocalisation and communication. Still, smaller building blocks need to be established, like the link between how birds and humans vocalise – a complex process of learned behaviour.

The project brought together engineers and neuroscientists at the University of California, San Diego. It was led by Vikash Gilja, an electrical and computer engineering professor, and Timothy Gentner, a professor of psychology and neurobiology.

So, how do they predict a bird’s brain?

Silicon electrodes were implanted in the brains of adult male zebra finches. The electrodes recorded the birds’ neural activity when they sang. A specific set of electrical signals called ‘local field potentials’ allows birds to learn and produce a song.

What’s interesting about this is that local field potentials are used to predict vocal behaviour in humans, too. Although this has been studied in human brains, its behaviour in bird brains has largely been ignored.

Contrary to popular belief, in most species of birds, the male sings to attract a mate or proclaim his wondrous territory. Birdsong is a critical survival function for the species, as their repertoire moves into overdrive during the breeding season.

Birds communicate daily using calls such as chirps, whistles, and twitters (before the other Twitter). The sounds birds make are categorised as either songs or calls, with songs being more musical. Calls are used to communicate within large families of birds to signal anything from warnings about predators to information about food.

Cracking the code of birdsong

Now, researchers have cracked the code and can predict changes in the sequence of birdsong by identifying features in “local field potentials.”

“Our motivation for exploring local field potentials was that most of the complementary human work for speech prostheses development has focused on these types of signals,” Gilja said. “In this paper, we show many similarities in this type of signalling between the zebra finch and humans, as well as other primates. With these signals, we can start to decode the brain’s intent to generate speech.”

Birdsong is of special interest because of the similarities in vocalisations to human speech. (That’s probably why it’s fairly easy for some humans to imitate birdsongs or whistles.)

Birdsong is among the most soothing and cognitively stimulating sounds to the human brain. Julian Treasure, author of Sound Business and chairman of noise consultancy The Sound Agency, says birdsong creates a state he calls “body relaxed, mind alert”.

Finches are fairly common birds and sing much more frequently than most birds because they mate often. At eight to ten months of age, zebra finches are ready to mate. The team’s work revealed that separate features in the local field potentials translate into specific syllables of the bird’s song, including when the syllables will occur during a song.

Communication prosthesis can improve quality of life

“Using this system, we’re able to predict with high fidelity the onset of a songbird’s vocal behaviour – what sequence the bird is going to sing, and when it is going to sing it,” Brown explained.

What the team learns from this sequencing brings them one step closer to being able to build highly advanced vocal prostheses for those with speech impediments.

“In the longer term, we want to use the detailed knowledge we are gaining from the songbird brain to develop a communication prosthesis that can improve the quality of life for humans suffering various illnesses and disorders,” added Gentner.

The researchers say they can even predict bird song sequence variations. If, for example, a bird’s song consists of four syllables, 1-2-3-4, they can now predict when the sequence will change to 1-2-3 or 1-2-3-4-5.

“These forms of variation are important for us to test hypothetical speech prostheses because a human doesn’t just repeat one sentence repeatedly,” said Gilja. “It’s exciting that we found parallels in the brain signals being recorded and documented in human physiology studies to our study in songbirds.”

Read also:

Amapiano: South Africa’s beat goes global
South Africa’s first amphibious ‘Waterfront Duck’ bus set to make a splash in Cape Town – Keith Lindsay
Breadline Africa eradicated pit toilet exposure for 11,000 South African children – Marion Wagner 

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : BizNews – https://www.biznews.com/good-hope-project/2024/06/26/birdsong-codes-human-speech

Tags: BirdsongBreakthroughbusiness
Previous Post

Wilgenhof gets SU Council reprieve – anatomy of the ‘Nagligte’ scandal

Next Post

My offshore investing journey

Air quality speed run – Washington State Department of Ecology (.gov)

Battling Pollution: Washington State’s Urgent Fight for Cleaner Air

October 6, 2025
Equity in science is a beautiful lie — and I’m done pretending – Nature

Equity in science is a beautiful lie — and I’m done pretending – Nature

October 6, 2025
Explore a bird database with 11,500 species – Popular Science

Explore an Incredible Bird Database Showcasing 11,500 Stunning Species

October 6, 2025
South Shore broker funded ‘extravagant lifestyle’ with $11.6 million taken from clients and colleagues, prosecutors say – Boston.com

South Shore broker funded ‘extravagant lifestyle’ with $11.6 million taken from clients and colleagues, prosecutors say – Boston.com

October 6, 2025
QRG Capital Management Inc. Purchases 9,519 Shares of Marvell Technology, Inc. $MRVL – MarketBeat

QRG Capital Management Takes Bold Step by Acquiring 9,519 Shares of Marvell Technology

October 6, 2025
Jaxson Dart, Cam Skattebo fumble away a Giant opportunity vs. Saints – Yahoo Sports

Jaxson Dart, Cam Skattebo fumble away a Giant opportunity vs. Saints – Yahoo Sports

October 6, 2025
‘The World Report’ of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – KSL TV 5

Inside The World Report: Exploring the Impact of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

October 6, 2025
Thai Airways Launches New Premium Economy on Flights From Most Visited City in the World – Aviation A2Z

Thai Airways Launches New Premium Economy on Flights From Most Visited City in the World – Aviation A2Z

October 6, 2025
Charlie Hunnam Reflects on Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story – Yahoo

Charlie Hunnam Reveals the Dark Challenges of Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story

October 6, 2025
Pre-rolls, education and industry optimism: Takeaways from Ohio Cannabis Health & Business Summit 2025 – Cleveland.com

Pre-rolls, Education, and Industry Optimism: Top Insights from the Ohio Cannabis Health & Business Summit 2025

October 6, 2025

Categories

Archives

October 2025
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Sep    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (854)
  • Economy (874)
  • Entertainment (21,748)
  • General (17,441)
  • Health (9,916)
  • Lifestyle (887)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (876)
  • Politics (885)
  • Science (16,085)
  • Sports (21,375)
  • Technology (15,855)
  • World (857)

Recent News

Air quality speed run – Washington State Department of Ecology (.gov)

Battling Pollution: Washington State’s Urgent Fight for Cleaner Air

October 6, 2025
Equity in science is a beautiful lie — and I’m done pretending – Nature

Equity in science is a beautiful lie — and I’m done pretending – Nature

October 6, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version