October 2007

Magazine Features

A Helping Hand

An engineering student builds a speech program to help an Italian child use her computer

Analytics Analyzed

While there are caveats, the right approach to speech analytics can yield higher customer satisfaction rates and financial returns

Bridging the Gap

Companies are unifying their self-service strategies to tightly integrate all self-service channels, including speech

The Elements of Style

How grammars, prompts, and dialogue flow come together to form a good VUI

Deployments

At Bell, Your Voice Is Your Password

Canada's leading phone company rolls out largest voice biometrics solution in the world

Booking Reservations Without Reservation

For Reservation Center, call recording technology takes the hassle out of fixing travel troubles

IVR Ensures the Validity of Foreign Elections

A global election watchdog group uses Virtual Call Center to monitor and report voting irregularities

Editor's Letter

A Movable Finish Line

Forward Thinking

Extending VoiceXML's Impact to New Markets

Technology is available to handle many of the more mundane translation tasks

Industry View

Voice Biometrics Grows to Meet Global Challenges

Today's solutions are more accurate and easier to use and implement.

Voice Value

Gethuman? Get Real

The new project's standard could work to deepen,not reduce, consumer dissatisfaction

Speech Solutions

Audio Search and Mining

The integration of improved speech-to-text in audio mining now allows users to easily access a wealth of information they might have missed otherwise.

FYI

Blind Customers Demand a Voice in Cell Phones

Blind and visually impaired customers have started legal action against the cell phone industry to improve cell phone accessibility with features like speech output for people who cannot read the phone's display screen.

Is Speech Still in the Cards for iPhone?

Speech tech industry insiders greeted the release of Apple's iPhone with a cry of anguish because the much-hyped device lacked a voice interface. The dream might not be not over, though.

Mike Cohen Discusses Speech Technology's Impact Upon Mobile Industry at SpeechTEK 2007

NEW YORK -- Using Google's mission statement, "Organize all the world's information," Mike Cohen, the company's speech technology group manager, maintained that speech technology will make an impact in the mobile market, and companies should take steps to adapt to the change.

Speech Gets Loud and Clear

Two sessions at SpeechTEK 2007 center on the importance of speech as a self-service enabler and its ability to serve as a gateway to CRM applications.

Speech Helps Students Return to School Safely

Working in New York during 9/11, Michael Sher lost all ability to communicate with his family and coworkers. Access to phone lines, email, Web sites, and mobile providers evaporated, and he had no way of confirming his safety to others. He thought there had to be a better way to keep people in touch during emergencies.

The Problems You See with UC

Network General Corp. recently released survey findings showing that unified communications (UC) applications are contributing significantly to network traffic and performance problems, something that it says is poised to become even more pronounced.

Voice Search Still Looking for Its Tipping Point

SpeechTEK 2007 (NEW YORK) -- During a SpeechTEK keynote on Tuesday morning, Malcolm Gladwell posited that for speech technology to reach its tipping point it might have to re-frame itself to fully reach its potential by finding exciting new applications. As several sessions at the show brought out, that potential is certainly inherent for speech technology, particularly in the area of voice as an interface to search for data.