Voice-Activated LED Matrix Mask Responds to Speech and Lets You Smile

If you’ve been wearing a mask when going out in public these days, you’ve probably noticed that facial expressions like smiling don’t work anymore. It’s an interesting conundrum, one that programmer Tyler Glaiel decided to address with an LED matrix behind a semi-transparent piece of cloth.

Glaiel’s face covering uses an 8x8 WS2812B maxtrix to reveal a virtual mouth, which senses sound when its wearer is speaking. It changes from a closed double-line display in response, and to a circle that indicates an open mouth emitting sound. He can also “smile” by making a popping noise with his mouth, detected in the control code found here.

It’s an interesting concept, which you can now replicate yourself thanks to Glaiel's explicitly laid out instructions in a recent Medium post. Everything is self-contained, including a 9V battery, electret microphone, and an Arduino Nano. He’s even using a resistor between the Arduino and LED matrix, which is good practice, but something that gets neglected quite often.

Additionally, Glaiel outlines how to make the mask itself out of fabric, though he admits that he doesn’t really know what he’s doing in part of the build. He notes that the mask may not be effective for stopping viruses, and is meant as more of a novelty, but ironically enough has gone viral online with more than 1.5 million views to date.