NTT DoCoMo to Release Mobile Phone Handset Able to Slow Down Speakers' Voice Speed

NTT DoCoMo, Inc. will release a mobile phone handset able to slow down speakers' voice speed on the phone in August 2005. The key targeted users are the elderly. The speed converter technology used in the handset slows down speakers' voice speed up to 0.7x, so the listener can feel like that the speakers' dialogue goes slowly. Users can start the function by pushing the camera button on a handset's side during a phone call. The technology does not slow down the voice part, but shortens the part without sound between phrases. When a time lag between the original voice and the converted voice exceeds one second, the function automatically stops.