hdrw@ibmpcug.co.uk (Howard Winter) (04/05/91)
(Request for info about speech recognition) The state of the art in speech recognition is pretty basic at present. The only reasonably priced systems have to be 'trained' to the voice/ words of the speaker, and have very limited vocabulary. They are unable to understand continuous speech and have a less-than-perfect success rate on single words. The reason for this is that speech is very complex, and it is now recognised that Artificial Intelligence is needed to get any further, since humans understand speech in the most part by context - try listening to a conversation between people with a strog foreign accent - until you have 'tuned' your brain to their pronunciation, it is difficult to catch anything of what they are saying. Sorry to be negative about this, but your expectations outstrip the capabilities currently achieved - language translation has also come up against a 'wall' in technology. They'll get there one day, but don't expect it soon, cheap, or infallible. Regards, Howard. -- Automatic Disclaimer: The views expressed above are those of the author alone and may not represent the views of the IBM PC User Group. -- hdrw@ibmpcug.Co.UK Howard Winter 0W21' 51N43'
harper@convex.com (David Harper) (04/11/91)
In a previous response to this thread I mentioned a magazine called Speech Technology. I finally tracked down the details on it: Speech Technology Magazine Published quarterly by: Media Dimensions, Inc. 42 East 23rd Street New York, NY 10010 (212) 533-7481 Subscription rates: $65/yr. The current issue (which they just sent me a free copy of - I let my subscription lapse some time back) contains a list of most companys that are in this business, their address and phone number, and the particular areas of specialization. It's an expensive subscription, but then most speech recognition systems are as well, and it just might keep you from making an expensive mistake. Dave Harper - Convex Computer Corp. E-mail address: 3000 Waterview Pky. Richardson, TX 75081 harper@convex.COM (214) 497-4525 (W) (214) 727-4206 (H)