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A comment on Show HN: Subvocal – Talk to your computer without making noise.

Re:Show HN: Subvocal – Talk to your computer without making ... by popap on Monday November 02, 2026 @12:46PM (#50340604)
That is fascinating. How do the radio waves get modulated? Do you think it is possible to use this technique for spying technology, with remote transmitters and receivers intersecting a person's facial anatomy to pick up the details of even a whispered or muttered conversation?
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Re:Show HN: Subvocal – Talk to your computer without making ... by aarushyadav on Monday November 02, 2026 @12:51PM (#50340680)
Most probably not possible to do this remotely, since this kind of RF needs to be transmitted through the face, and if you transmit them from too far away very few of them will actually take a path that goes through the face and comes back to your receiver.

They get modulated since your mouth is a complex dielectric environment. Tissue, water, and air have different dielectric constants (different permittivity to RF) and the motion of the muscles in this medium leads to interactions with the waves that fill it, changing their phase and amplitude as they propagate.

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