Skip Links

Network World

  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Close

Nuance claims breakthrough on speech recognition

By Stephen Lawson , IDG News Service , 07/18/2006

Watch what you say about your computer: It's getting better at understanding your voice.

Nuance Communications says the latest version of its speech-recognition software can achieve -- with some speakers -- 99% accuracy out of the box, without a "training" session to familiarize the software with how a particular person talks. It was scheduled for launch Tuesday.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 lets users control many applications on Microsoft Windows PCs and dictate documents within them. It's designed for professionals such as doctors and lawyers, as well as for enterprise employees who frequently have to type and for disabled people, said Matt Revis, director of product management for dictation solutions at Nuance.

The accuracy rate, or what percentage of words the software spells correctly by itself, varies depending on sound quality and how a person talks, Revis said. But Nuance has improved it by 80% since NaturallySpeaking 8 was introduced in 2004, according to the company.

Version 8 could reach 99%, but only after the user read a prepared script, Revis said. Now users can get that level of accuracy right after installing the software and starting it up, though a script is still available if a user isn't satisfied with the results on the first try. In any case, the software can continue learning on its own just through normal use, Revis added.

The out-of-the-box 99% accuracy figure is for the American English version, but the new Dragon releases for other languages get similar boosts in accuracy, Revis said. The software is available for Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, as well as for Australian, Asian, Indian and U.K. English. Also with NaturallySpeaking 9, Nuance is certifying two Bluetooth wireless headsets for use with the software.

The current version of NaturallySpeaking is "uncannily accurate," so the new version should work very well -- but only over time, in most cases, said Bill Meisel, president of TMA Associates, a speech industry consulting company in Tarzana, California. Most users are unlikely to see 99% accuracy the minute they start using the software, though after about two days of use their accuracy will improve, he said. In fact, Meisel questions Nuance's decision to emphasize immediate results. Many users quickly get frustrated, not realizing that it usually takes time to get good results.

Partner Content
CA logo

CA Network & Voice Resource Center

Comprehensive Network & Voice Management Visit CA Network & Voice Management Resource Center and get insights into industry best practices, information that helps you to address your challenges.

CA Network & Voice Management Resource Center

whitepaper

Managing Voice Over IP for Successful Convergence

Voice over IP (VoIP) has much to offer in cost savings but some customers have concerns about VoIP call quality compared to the quality of traditional voice services. This white paper will help you learn how to take the right steps so that voice quality is assured.

Managing VoIP for Successful Convergence

whitepaper

The Changing Face of Network Management

Managing your network is serious business. This paper discusses the benefits of integrating configuration change-awareness into your network fault management solution

Download Whitepaper

Comments (1)
Login
Forgot your account info?

You can barely recognize our speechBy Anonymous on April 18, 2007, 10:29 pmWe use this at work and it is dreadful. Even after training, we run about 30% accuracy. Re: Nuance claims breakthrough on speech recognition.

Reply | Read entire comment

View all comments

Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to moderator approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.

Videos

rssRss Feed
Save The Date!
What They Are Saying

IBM spent all that money on a mass rollout of PGP Whole Disk Encryption, just when its discovered that...- Anonymous

Join the Discussion