# YazSes v2.8.0-dev.1 — Wave L opens: non-speech & prosodic voice interaction (developer preview)

**Pre-release · not published** (publish workflows are pinned to `v0.x`/`v1.x`; v2 dev tags do
not ship). **v1.4.1 remains the stable release.** Every feature is **OFF by default**.

**Opens Wave L** (`design/vision/v2-research/14-wave-l.md`) — a fresh state-of-the-art round that
turns YazSes toward a genuinely new area: **non-speech vocal signals (formant/pitch/loudness/breath)
and acoustic prosody as first-class interaction channels** — for users who can phonate but not
articulate discrete words, and for word-free eyes-free control. Ten evidence-anchored features are
designed; this drop ships the first two pure cores.

## New in dev.1 (all off by default)

- **Vocal Joystick** (ADR-v2-095, `[vocaljoystick]`) — continuous *analog* cursor/scroll control by
  sustaining vowels: "ahh" → right, "eee" → up, louder = faster, a sharp pitch-jump = click. No
  words. `vowel_to_direction` (formants → 8-way) + `vocal_control_vector` + a `VocalJoystick`
  integrator. A fundamentally new modality (velocity, not selection) for severe motor impairment
  (ALS, high SCI, CP). Anchor: Bilmes et al., *The Vocal Joystick* (ASSETS 2006).
- **Earcon Feedback Language** (ADR-v2-096, `[earcon]`) — tiny structured tones signal daemon state
  eyes-free: a rising two-note motif for "recording started", a muted buzz for "low confidence", a
  chime for "command done" — faster and less intrusive than spoken read-back. `earcon_for` motif
  grammar + `render_earcon` numpy synth. Anchor: Brewster earcons (TOCHI 1993).

`yazses features` now lists **107 capabilities**. (Vocal Joystick is experimental — `features enable`
requires `--force`.)

## Wave L remaining
Mouth-Sound Switch Access · Beam-Steered Spatial VAD · Breath-Paced Dictation · Whisper-Aware Mode ·
Hesitation-Hold Endpointing · Involuntary-Vocalization Auto-Excision · Pitch-Contour Vocal Gestures ·
Prosodic Auto-Punctuation.

## Quality
1344 tests green across Linux × macOS × Windows on Python 3.11 and 3.12. Both new cores are
unit-tested to 100% with **no new dependency** (the Vocal Joystick's formant/pitch tracker is an
optional lazy extra; the pure mapping + integrator are dependency-free). The default install and the
v1 dictation path are unchanged.