Augmental first unveiled its tongue-controlled MouthPad as a CES curiosity in 2024. Today the device is a real product you can buy, with the company opening public US sales alongside a beta release of Vox, a companion wearable built to handle the typing half of Augmental's hands-free computing promise.

A retainer that doubles as a mouse

The MouthPad is custom-made for each user and fits over the upper teeth like a slim retainer. It features a pressure-sensitive trackpad that rests on the palate and, combined with head tracking, can be used to move a cursor, click, and swipe. Every gesture is customizable through a companion app. Augmental says more than 100 people with mobility challenges already rely on it day-to-day, with some using it for up to 16 hours each day.

Augmental released an updated second-generation model earlier this year, adding support for tongue-triggered keyboard shortcuts and a WASD remap for gaming. Battery life also got a bump to 7+ hours on the new model, and the device can now pair with multiple gadgets simultaneously.

Augmental says a MouthPad user recently hit 10.47 bits per second in a cursor accuracy test, a benchmark the company points to as proof of the device's precision. It claims the figure matches implanted brain-computer interfaces. At $1,400, plus roughly $100 for a required dental scan, the MouthPad costs far less than a surgical brain implant, and skips the operating room entirely.

A pendant that turns a whisper into a keystroke

If the MouthPad is Augmental's equivalent of a mouse, Vox is its answer to the keyboard. It is a small pendant that sits against the skin and reads speech through body vibrations rather than open air, a design borrowed from the stethoscope that lets it filter out background noise and pick up dictation spoken at a near whisper. A user can trigger Vox with a button press or with a tongue gesture if it is paired with the MouthPad to send messages or talk to an AI assistant without raising their voice in public.

That deliberate activation is meant as a privacy feature that distinguishes Vox from similar always-listening AI gadgets. The device will ship in beta for $200 later this year, with proceeds from its first batch going toward funding MouthPads for people who need them. In the long term, Augmental plans to combine the acoustic data from Vox with tongue-movement patterns from the MouthPad to build what it calls silent speech, letting people communicate with a device without making any sound at all.