Scientists at La Trobe University have created a sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithm that can help understand if someone has drunk too much alcohol and is in a state of intoxication. We may soon see it in action instead of those booze-testing gadgets you find lying around.
All you need is to make the system listen to the voice of the "analysed" person: it only takes 12 seconds. The study just published (I link it here) illustrates the implementation phases of this system, called ADLAIA. Abraham Albert Bonela, a doctoral student, conducted it under the supervision of professors Emmanuel Kuntsche e Zhenhe arriving to determine with incredible precision the state of drunkenness of a person through a few seconds of audio.
Because it is important
Have you ever heard of acute alcohol intoxication? Probably yes, but perhaps you don't know how dangerous it is for the health (of those who are intoxicated and also of others). Alcohol compromises our cognitive and psychomotor abilities, increasing the risk of road accidents and acts of violence. Today, drunkenness is measured with an instrument called a breathalyzer, which measures the concentration of alcohol in a person's blood. An algorithm that extracts this data from the voice could produce a real breakthrough.
Thanks to this innovative technology it could be possible to monitor alcohol consumption more precisely and prevent accidents due to intoxication: even leading to cars or voice assistants that tell us if we are drunk before we get behind the wheel, before entering a pub or a stadium, or maybe while we're still at home.
How the algorithm that measures drunkenness was developed
ADLAIA has been studied and tested on a dataset of 12.360 sound clips of people talking (both drunk and sober). At the moment, the algorithm is able to recognize people who have a BAC of at least 0,05% with an accuracy of 70%. If we raise the bar (with a blood alcohol level above 0,12%) the accuracy reaches 76%, but the system is constantly improving, and will soon reach decisive reliability.
Tell the truth: is it or isn't it a big step forward? Don't talk too much, though: I could change my mind about that beer I wanted to offer you.
