The NewsComm system delivers personally selected audio information to mobile users through a hand-held audio playback device. The system provides a one-to-one connection from individual users to information providers so that users can access information on demand with breadth and depth unattainable through traditional media. Filtering mechanisms help the user efficiently find information of interest.

The hand-held device receives audio through intermittent high band-width wired connections to a central audio server. The server collects and stores audio from various sources including radio broadcasts, books on tape, and internet multicasts. Each recording in the server is preprocessed by a set of audio processing algorithms which automatically extracts a structural description of the audio. The hand-held interface uses these structural descriptions to enable efficient skimming and searching. The device is ideal for use while commuting or exercising.

Publications

NewsComm: A Hand-Held Device for Interactive Access to Structured Audio. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Human Interaction, Vancouver, April 1996.

Using acoustic structure in a hand-held audio playback device. IBM Systems Journal, Vol. 35, Nos. 3&4.

NewsComm: A Hand-Held Device for Interactive Access to Structured Audio M.S. Thesis, MIT Media Lab, June 1995.