"The computer could look up the song by your singing." On May 18, 2007, a new karaoke speech recognition system was presented to the society. Many visitors carefully looked this new device and were eager to test its ability. This is a scene of our institute's Popular Science Day.

In answer to the National Science Week and the CAS Popular Science Day, our institute opened to the society during May.19 to 20. Nearly 800 local residents and students visited our institute. Not only many advanced devices and equipments, but also the mysterious labs were opened to the visitors. Hundreds of residents and students went to the science world to enjoy the charms of the high technology.

In our institute, the new karaoke speech recognition system attracted many visitors. This system looked very simple -- a computer with a microphone. But it had a magical power. The docent said if a person sings a song for more than 6 seconds, the computer would "say" the name of the song you are singing. If we only remember the tune of the song, it also works. In this way, we could get rid of the trouble of finding the song in a large database. A visitor had a try on the spot and only sang two sentences of a song. The computer rapidly presented the name of the song on the screen. It is said this karaoke speech recognition system will be widely launched on the market.

The visitors also had the chance to see the research labs: anechoic chamber, semi-anechoic chamber, reverberation chamber and so on. The visitors said they were deeply impressed by such an event. They didn't only broaden their horizon but also knew more about science and research institutes.