Comments on: A More Optimistic Outlook on the Future of Speech http://www.okkoblog.com/2010/06/30/a-more-optimistic-outlook-on-the-future-of-speech/ Working with speech and language technology Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:32:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: nsh http://www.okkoblog.com/2010/06/30/a-more-optimistic-outlook-on-the-future-of-speech/comment-page-1/#comment-294 nsh Thu, 08 Jul 2010 23:51:13 +0000 http://www.okkoblog.com/?p=187#comment-294 > What I mean by niches for speech are interesting applications that don’t compete > with mouse, keyboard or touch screen for user attention. Exactly, that's why I consider speech analytics that acts in parallel with usual user activity transparently listening for call, talk or meeting more perspective technology than IVR or dictation. I even started voting about that on blog but suprisingly it shows that way more readers still think that dictation and command & control are usable. Another such domain is language learning. > I would love to hear where you think the next major breakthrough for ASR > technology will come from. Well, it should be another source of information. Not necessary AI since I still believe that planes shouldn't flap wings. It might be WWW, then google will do that faster than anyone else ;) I took this new source idea from this nice post http://caterina.net/archive/001211.html > What I mean by niches for speech are interesting applications that don’t compete
> with mouse, keyboard or touch screen for user attention.

Exactly, that’s why I consider speech analytics that acts in parallel with usual user activity transparently listening for call, talk or meeting more perspective technology than IVR or dictation. I even started voting about that on blog but suprisingly it shows that way more readers still think that dictation and command & control are usable.

Another such domain is language learning.

> I would love to hear where you think the next major breakthrough for ASR
> technology will come from.

Well, it should be another source of information. Not necessary AI since I still believe that planes shouldn’t flap wings. It might be WWW, then google will do that faster than anyone else ;) I took this new source idea from this nice post

http://caterina.net/archive/001211.html

]]> By: Okko http://www.okkoblog.com/2010/06/30/a-more-optimistic-outlook-on-the-future-of-speech/comment-page-1/#comment-289 Okko Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:05:47 +0000 http://www.okkoblog.com/?p=187#comment-289 Agree - even good practices are the cause of the stagnation. We know IVR systems are awful to use compared to web pages (or flashy iPhone apps), but by giving their awfulness a certain pattern, we can work around technological limitations. What I mean by niches for speech are interesting applications that don't compete with mouse, keyboard or touch screen for user attention. These are battles bound to be lost. Fancy voice interfaces will always come second to more immersive or efficient input methods. I would love to hear where you think the next major breakthrough for ASR technology will come from. Agree – even good practices are the cause of the stagnation. We know IVR systems are awful to use compared to web pages (or flashy iPhone apps), but by giving their awfulness a certain pattern, we can work around technological limitations.

What I mean by niches for speech are interesting applications that don’t compete with mouse, keyboard or touch screen for user attention. These are battles bound to be lost. Fancy voice interfaces will always come second to more immersive or efficient input methods.

I would love to hear where you think the next major breakthrough for ASR technology will come from.

]]> By: nsh http://www.okkoblog.com/2010/06/30/a-more-optimistic-outlook-on-the-future-of-speech/comment-page-1/#comment-279 nsh Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:45:27 +0000 http://www.okkoblog.com/?p=187#comment-279 I kind of disagree that it's just practice issue. The whole experience in bringing up ASR products leads to the the conclusion that technolgy is not there yet. Users can't operate with 90% success rate, most applications require 99.999%. But I consider this stagnation as a delay before major breakthrough in the technology, so right now is a perfect time to start with ASR and catch the wave that will appear soon. I kind of disagree that it’s just practice issue. The whole experience in bringing up ASR products leads to the the conclusion that technolgy is not there yet. Users can’t operate with 90% success rate, most applications require 99.999%.

But I consider this stagnation as a delay before major breakthrough in the technology, so right now is a perfect time to start with ASR and catch the wave that will appear soon.

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