Surveying the Territory
Who is using speaker verification and why?
Your answers to such questions constitute valuable information
Are organizations combining speaker verification with other biometrics?
Are they combining it with speech recognition?
Where is the industry headed?
These are some of the questions being asked by a growing number of decision makers both in the speech processing industry and outside of it. The answers to such questions constitute valuable information: they often guide strategic planning for speaker verification vendors, VARs, and developers considering commercialization; they help venture capitalists and investors direct their resources; and they are a crucial component of business cases for speaker verification projects.
Working in collaboration with the International Computer Security Association (ICSA), and with the gracious assistance of the editors of Speech Technology magazine, I have assembled a number of core questions.
The answers to the survey questions will form the basis of a deeper analysis of speaker verification and identification. They will also be combined with information being gathered by the ICSA on other biometrics to produce a more complete price of the marketplace for biometrics as a whole.
I am trying to find answers to important questions about speaker verification and identification - but I need your help.
Since you are receiving Speech Technology magazine, you have already expressed an interest in some form of speech processing. You are also more aware of what is available in the speech processing industry than most of your colleagues. Your answers to the survey questions will provide information and insights that are not available anywhere else.
You may also be interested to know that organizations and companies that return a completed questionnaire will receive a free copy of my publication, Voice ID Quarterly. Anyone who takes the time to do a follow-up telephone interview will also receive summary findings for the survey before any results are published.
Please take the time to complete and return the enclosed questionnaire to me and please consider participating in a follow-up 10-15 minute interview. And, if there is someone in another company whose opinions on speaker verification should be included in a survey like this one, please give him or her a copy of the survey to complete.
Judith Markowitz is president of J. Markowitz Consultants, and can be reached at Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park, 1840 North Oak, Evanston, Ill., 60201, or by e-mail at jmarkowitz@pobox.com.