The Future of Speech Technologies

prostoalex writes "PC Magazine is running an interview with two of the research leaders in IBM's speech recognition group, Dr. David Nahamoo, manager of Human Language Technologies, and Dr. Roberto Sicconi, manager of Multimodal Conversational Solutions. They mainly discuss the status quo of speech technologies, which prototypes exist in IBM Labs today, and where the industry is headed." From the article: "There has to be a good reason to use speech, maybe you're hands are full [like in the case of driving a car]. ... Speech has to be important enough to justify the adoption. I'd like to go back to one of your original questions. You were saying, 'What's wrong with speech recognition today?' One of the things I see missing is feedback. In most cases, conversations are one-way. When you talk to a device, it's like talking to a 1 or 2 year old child. He can't tell you what's wrong, and you just wait for the time when he can tell you what he wants or what he needs."

Solution to "one-way" problem

[blair1q]

I have a solution to the "one-way" communication problem.

More popups.

Audio popups!

Heads-up display popups!

Holy blackberries! Get me my patent attorney!

Oh no!

[Ardeocalidus]

"Car, brake"

"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that"

What's wrong with speech?

[Nuclear Elephant]

What's wrong with speech recognition today?

I took a brief poll, and nobody seems to have a problem:

Bruce: I sure like being inside this fancy computer.
Vicki: Isn't it nice to have a computer that will talk to you?
Agnes: Isn't it nice to have a computer that will talk to you?
Kathy: Isn't it nice to have a computer that will talk to you?

Except the trinoids, who complained:
We can not communicate with these carbon units.

I wasn't sure which Carbon they were talking about.

Re:Oh no!

[lukewarmfusion]

That's because the car thought you said "break." You should speak more clearly.

Re:your

[legalize.ganja.now.]

blame their speech recognition software

Re:"maybe you're hands are full"

[Rotund Prickpull]

Neither can I, so I have to cheat and use these things called "context" and "rules of English grammar".

Re:integration

[Bloke down the pub]

There's enough wittering going on in the office already, thanks.

Of course, it seems you'll have the advantage of not having to tell it to switch to uppercase no i meant put the letters in uppercase not the word quote uppercase quote shift shift er fuck hey Joe what is it for uppercase huh was that caps lock YOU SAID OK THANKS NO DELETE DELETE THAT.

Unrecognizable grunts

[renrutal]

You know this technology will be a big hit in the porn industry when the big man of the area says

"There has to be a good reason to use speech, maybe your hands are full"

Now, what if the mouth is full too? Ventriloquism?