A middle ground between careful typing and dictation
Mobile typing can demand attention before anything goes wrong. You may already anticipate the next autocorrect mistake and the interruption of stopping to fix it. Typing more precisely or constantly checking the text takes attention too, can feel frustrating, and can pull you away from what you want to say.
Faint-whisper dictation can work when the microphone is close to your mouth. The practical difference is where you hold your phone: a whisper that transcribes reliably up close may not produce a reliable result at normal typing distance. That does not necessarily mean the microphone captured nothing useful. The audio may simply be insufficient to identify the intended word on its own.
At home on the couch or out and about, you may not be wearing earbuds or a headset microphone. You may prefer to keep typing with the screen comfortably in view, rather than bringing the phone to your mouth or speaking more audibly. LipConfirm explores that everyday situation: keep the phone where you type and let faint articulation supply additional clues for autocorrect. There is no need for an accessory microphone, holding the phone up to your mouth, or for dictation to take over the message.
If you have ever faintly articulated words while reading to yourself or working through instructions, the action may already feel familiar. LipConfirm’s founding idea grew from that observation and a personal frustration with autocorrect. You already know the word you intend; your typing and faint articulation can express it together, in your own rhythm.
The key technical distinction is that a faint whisper need not be reliably transcribable by itself when captured at normal typing distance. Your typing already narrows the possibilities. Combined with your text, even incomplete acoustic clues can carry information that helps distinguish the intended word as you compose, which is one of the mechanisms LipConfirm is built around. The goal is more forgiving typing: less pressure to hit every key perfectly, fewer interruptions to repair text, and more attention left for what you want to say.
You don’t have to whisper throughout your message. A faint cue can accompany typing or help fix a word after you notice an error. For a requested correction, select the word and quietly articulate what you intended, with the phone still at normal typing distance. LipConfirm is designed to combine that new cue with the text you originally typed, rather than relying only on autocorrect’s replacement.
You can keep most of your message unspoken, adding a faint whisper when extra help is useful. Very faint whispers can be less audible to people nearby, helping you correct text more discreetly without speaking up.
LipConfirm allows faint whispering or, alternatively, completely silent lip movements as the accompanying signal. Whisper assistance uses the microphone and does not require a camera. Optional silent lip assistance uses a brief, requested camera capture to follow mouth movements.
Desktop prototypes are available for both whisper-assisted and silent lip-assisted correction, with live demonstrations on request.