@rowancheung: Augmental, an MIT Media Lab spinoff, has opened public U.S. sales of the MouthPad, a custom-fit oral device that lets users control phones, tablets, and computers with their tongue. The one-millimeter-thick appliance fits over the upper teeth and houses a pressure-sensitive trackpad, with motion sensors reading head movement and sip gestures registering clicks. More than 100 people with mobility challenges already use it, some up to 16 hours daily. One user recorded 10.47 bits per second in a cursor task, a rate the company says matches implanted brain-computer interfaces that require surgery. Augmental also introduced VOX, a $200 stethoscope-inspired microphone pendant enabling whisper-level dictation. The MouthPad costs $1,400, is not covered by insurance, and takes six months to build. Longer term, the company aims to pair the two devices to build a personal speech model driven by tongue movement alone, enabling text input without any audible speech.

Rowan Cheung

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Wednesday 05 August 2026 16:56:01 GMT