December/January 1999

Magazine Features

A Perfect Fit: Wearables and Speech

The computer industry has always been driven by the synergistic competition between hardware and software. As our society conceives of new ways of using computers, code jockeys create ever more capable and complicated software to accomplish the task. Software performance demands in turn challenge hardware developers and designers. Hardware improvements continue the cycle by inciting even more demands from society. Recent improvements in speech recognition software continue this contest in the desktop world. For the wearable computer platform, however, these improvements herald a quantum leap in usability. For the first time in the nearly 40 year history of "wearable" computers, reality can meet society's expectations. This synergy bodes well for the growth of this once nascent segment.

Dotting the I’ s and Crossing the T’s With Handwriting Recognition Systems

Both handwriting recognition and speech recognition are technologies that reduce the need for a clumsy input device like a keyboard. Such advances make computing easier for mobile workers, allowing them to be more productive and bring computer power to many who would not otherwise be able to access it.

Look Before You Leap: Is Speech Dictation Right for Your Company?

As more employers consider speech recognition, they need to address how to implement this new technology successfully. Many factors contribute to the successful application of speech recognition, but an initial evaluation of the job to be performed is essential. Then, proper training and technical support will be required and a reasonable amount of time needs to be budgeted so the worker has a realistic opportunity to maximize the productivity benefits of the speech recognition system.

Motorola Introduces Voice Browser

Motorola, Inc.’s Internet and Connectivity Services Division (ICSD) recently introduced VoxMLTM Voice Markup Language, designed to extend the reach of the Internet and intranets by enabling access to online content from any telephone.

Speech on the go

Many of speech recognition’s most important contributions to productivity have to do with mobility. For example, speech allows telephone users to simply say the name of the person they are calling and be connected, a big advantage for cellular phone users in the car.

Speech Profiles: Speech Recognition Chips 101— It's Serious Business Now

Recent advances in the area of low cost speech recognition have moved the technology into everyday consumer products. With vast improvements in the quality and accuracy of low-cost speech recognition systems, the value of adding speech recognition to everyday consumer products is now being realized.

Speech Profiles: A Window on Speech at L&H

Lernout & Hauspie has been an international leader in the development of speech technology for numerous commercial applications, and since their September, 1997 alliance with Microsoft has been one of the most closely watched companies in the industry.

Speech Reconnaissance

This year the speech industry continued to make the technological advances that will soon make speech recognition a mainstream business and personal productivity tool. This year’s SpeechTEK exhibition and conference was the largest ever and attracted more national media attention to the speech industry than any event in the last several years.

SpeechTEK 98: Leading Edge Technology Meets Mainstream Business at SpeechTEK 98

The growing importance and acceptance of speech processing technologies was on display at the most recent SpeechTEK conference and exhibition in New York City.

Virtual Assistants: Speech's next "Killer App"

The bar for speech interactive tools may have been set artificially high by years of science fiction movies such as 2001 and StarTrek, but these hugely popular vehicles have captured the public’s imagination, and raised their expectations. The public’s high-performance expectations for interactive speech tools have essentially been unattainable…until recently.

Forward Thinking

Who Is Talking About Speech?

Now that my responsibilities with SpeechTEK have ended, I want to take the opportunity to talk about four other conferences I attended in the September/October time frame, and one conference scheduled for January. These conferences only begin to suggest how widespread interest in speech and voice technology has become.