Speech-recognition technology is rapidly improving
July 23, 2009 By Troy WolvertonMaybe I watched too much "Star Trek" when I was younger, but I love the idea of being able to command things in my house or in my car by talking to them.
I'd love to be like the Enterprise's Captain Picard and get a cup of tea by walking up to a wall panel and saying "Earl Grey, hot."
I'm not holding out for a voice-activated replicator. I'd settle for simpler stuff, such as being able to set the thermostat, turn on my oven, switch off the lights or record a ballgame by simply speaking my wishes out loud.
Unfortunately, my real-life experience with speech recognition technology -- and I'm guessing yours, too -- has been nothing like "Star Trek." Instead, it's been largely frustrating and sometimes infuriating, what with voice-dialing cell phones that can't understand who you're asking them to call and phone trees that respond to simple voice commands but won't direct you to a live person who can handle more complex questions.
But if speech recognition advocates are to be believed, the science fiction world of widespread and well-functioning voice-controlled devices and appliances is finally just around the corner.
"I think we're seeing a real renaissance here," said Bill Meisel, a longtime follower of speech-recognition technology and editor of Speech Strategy News, an industry newsletter.
Meisel foresees a not-so-far-off world in which our mobile phones serve as a universal remote that allows us to control and program everything from TiVos to alarm clocks with our voice.
Todd Mozer, CEO of Sensory, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based speech-recognition company, envisions a soon-to-come world filled with speech-controlled Internet devices, or SCIDs.
One example of such a device might be a clock radio that could not only tell you the current time when asked, but could also, using its Internet connection, tell you the weather in Boston.
Regardless of how the future unfolds, advocates such as Meisel and Mozer say it's nearer than most people might think. Voice recognition is not some pipe dream, but a maturing technology that has improved in recent years and already works well in certain circumstances.
Widespread adoption of speech recognition has been delayed by problems with accuracy, advocates acknowledge. But thanks to Moore's law, computers and microprocessors are getting faster at processing spoken words. They're also able to sort through and compare what's spoken with increasingly large databases of recognized words and ways of saying them.
Developers are also improving accuracy by narrowing the problem.
Some do that by limiting the number of words a device needs to understand. A Bluetooth headset, say, may recognize only a handful of commands. But it will understand those commands so well that it can respond to them, no matter a person's accent and despite having to listen for them over a talk-radio program.
Another way of narrowing the problem is to categorize the information sought, or focus on industry-specific vocabularies. Some speech-to-text programs, for example, are specifically designed for particular medical professions, such as radiology.
But it's more than just improved accuracy that has advocates excited about prospects for speech-recognition. The technology has become a big business, and major corporations, such as Apple, Microsoft and Google, are pushing it. Speech recognition technologies have become commonplace not only in cell phones and phone trees, but also in particular industries, such as transcribing medical records or even for use by workers in larger warehouses.
And two other trends could help move speech technologies into consumers' homes. One is the growing demand for more "natural" ways of interacting with technology products, such as by using gestures on a touch-screen or via motion-sensing controllers. Some analysts think speech works well in tandem with other natural interfaces.
The other trend is the growing number of home networks and Internet-connected devices. Having a network connection allows devices to download updates that would improve their speech recognition capabilities over time. It also can let devices tap into more powerful speech recognizers either on the local network or out on the Internet.
Indeed, getting speech-controlled devices into the mainstream is becoming less an issue of technology than consumer acceptance, advocates say. The more consumers are exposed to speech recognition services and have positive experiences, the more likely they'll seek speech-based interfaces in other areas, argues Meisel.
"People's attitudes have been colored by unpleasant experiences," said Meisel. "(Those) attitudes will change."
Here's hoping he's right. Dreams of "Star Trek" aside, I'd be happy to simply have my phone recognize when I want to dial my sister.
___
(c) 2009, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).
Visit MercuryNews.com, the World Wide Web site of the Mercury News, at http://www.mercurynews.com
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
-
Researchers produce 'neural fingerprint' of speech recognition
Nov 10, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
IBM Research Unleashes Powerful Speech Software
Aug 18, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
NEC Develops Speech-to-Speech Translation Software for Mobile Phones
Oct 24, 2005 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Carnegie Mellon engineering researchers to create speech recognition in silicon
Sep 13, 2004 |
not rated yet |
0
-
A computer can pick out speech even amid cacophony
Nov 26, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (33) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (4) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
-
How to calculate total compressibility in liquid porous solid system
6 hours ago
-
Need help reading 3-D
Feb 11, 2012
-
A way to send and receive wireless data
Feb 11, 2012
-
Calling function with no input argument
Feb 10, 2012
-
Force free body diagram problem on gym equipment
Feb 10, 2012
-
Empirical data regarding shower heads and water
Feb 10, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - General Engineering
More news stories
Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon
(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...
Iran blocks email, restricts net access: reports
Iran has further restricted access to the Internet and blocked popular email services for the past few days, in a move a top lawmaker said could "cost the regime dearly," media reports said on Sunday.
7 hours ago |
5 / 5 (2) |
3
Love a click away in Indonesia's Twitter Republic
He was a geeky kid from Yogyakarta, she a glamorous city girl in Jakarta. In a country with one of the world's most vibrant social networking scenes they fell in love on Twitter.
15 hours ago |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...
Navy to begin tests on electromagnetic railgun prototype launcher
The Office of Naval Research (ONR)'s Electromagnetic (EM) Railgun program will take an important step forward in the coming weeks when the first industry railgun prototype launcher is tested at a facility ...
Feb 06, 2012 |
4.5 / 5 (19) |
95
|
Scientists discover molecular secrets of 2,000-year-old Chinese herbal remedy
For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, ...
New method to examine batteries -- MRI from the inside
There is an ever-increasing need for advanced batteries for portable electronics, such as phones, cameras, and music players, but also to power electric vehicles and to facilitate the distribution and storage of energy derived ...
A mitosis mystery solved: How chromosomes align perfectly in a dividing cell
Although the process of mitotic cell division has been studied intensely for more than 50 years, Whitehead Institute researchers have only now solved the mystery of how cells correctly align their chromosomes during symmetric ...
Lab study raises questions over nano-particle impact
Tests involving chickens have raised questions about the impact on health from engineered nano-particles, the ultra-fine grains commonly used in drugs and processed foods, scientists said on Sunday.
Overeating may double risk of memory loss
New research suggests that consuming between 2,100 and 6,000 calories per day may double the risk of memory loss, or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), among people age 70 and older. The study was released today and will be ...
Starve a virus, feed a cure? Findings show how some cells protect themselves against HIV
A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate, according to research published online ...
Aug 05, 2009
Rank: not rated yet