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@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ There is a profound and ramifying "thoughtlessness" here: at once ethical, polit |
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Most of us will experience machine listening as an interface. Say goodbye to spring-mounted keys and clicking mice, maybe soon even the quiet tap of fingers on capacitive glass. "Alexa," we command - or is it ask? - into an airy, expectant atmosphere. [^andrejevic] refers first to this invisibility of interface, but it is also "social distancing", remote work, standing no less than 2m apart in a queue for toilet paper, and, in the case of corona voice diagnostics, the idea that computational systems might determine the presence of the virus from the sound of a person's speech or cough (touchlessness is part of a history of stethoscopy and mediate auscultation too). |
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There's no evidence yet that such a thing is possible, but many organisations are trying and they are thirsty for data {{< nosup >}}[[i](https://voca.ai/corona-virus/ "Voca.ai and Carnegie Mellon University partner to enable fast diagnosis of COVID-19"), [ii](https://covid-19-sounds.org/en/ "COVID-19 Sounds App"), [iii](https://news.mit.edu/2020/signs-covid-19-may-be-hidden-speech-signals-0708 "Signs of Covid-19 may be hidden in speech signals"), [iv](https://coughvid.epfl.ch/ "Send us a recording of a cough sound and help research on COVID-19"), [v](https://www.voiceome.org/covid19/index.html "Use Voice to Fight COVID-19"), [vi](https://futurism.com/neoscope/app-claims-covid19-voice "This App Claims It Can Hear COVID-19 in Your Voice"), [vii](https://www.soniphi.com/ "Soniphi is developing a screening solution for COVID-19 that uses your voice. If you have recently tested positive we need your help"), [viii](https://www.sondehealth.com/sondeone-page "Voice analysis + questionnaire + body temperature in under one minute")]{{< /nosup >}}. {{< nosup >}}["Donate your voice."](https://www.voiceome.org/covid19/index.html){{< /nosup >}} "Hit record and read the following sentences while pinching your nose." "Press record and cough three times." |
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There's no evidence yet that such a thing is possible, but many organisations are trying and they are thirsty for data {{< nosup >}}[[i](https://voca.ai/corona-virus/ "Voca.ai and Carnegie Mellon University partner to enable fast diagnosis of COVID-19"), [ii](https://covid-19-sounds.org/en/ "COVID-19 Sounds App"), [iii](https://news.mit.edu/2020/signs-covid-19-may-be-hidden-speech-signals-0708 "Signs of Covid-19 may be hidden in speech signals"), [iv](https://coughvid.epfl.ch/ "Send us a recording of a cough sound and help research on COVID-19"), [v](https://www.voiceome.org/covid19/index.html "Use Voice to Fight COVID-19"), [vi](https://futurism.com/neoscope/app-claims-covid19-voice "This App Claims It Can Hear COVID-19 in Your Voice"), [vii](https://www.soniphi.com/ "Soniphi is developing a screening solution for COVID-19 that uses your voice. If you have recently tested positive we need your help"), [viii](https://www.sondehealth.com/sondeone-page "Voice analysis + questionnaire + body temperature in under one minute")]{{< /nosup >}}. ["Donate your voice."](https://www.voiceome.org/covid19/index.html) "Hit record and read the following sentences while pinching your nose." "Press record and cough three times." |
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Touchless covid diagnosis would make life and labor much safer for primary care workers. It would also be destined for automation and embedding into existing audio systems like telehealth, the smart city, and the smart speakers increasingly found at [patients' bedsides](https://hitconsultant.net/2019/12/10/digital-voice-assistants-hospital-room-near-future/#.X2LCyVBS_OQ). During a pandemic, where underequipped hospitals, testing centers, workplaces and urban centers are vectors of virus transmission, touchlessness becomes a hygienic imperative as well as an economic one. In a world in which we increasingly understand the air itself as toxic, touchlessness tends towards breathlessness too. After all, smart assistants don't breathe. |
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