businessinfomag.uk
magazine
32
Speech recognition technology is
transforming how we interact with
technology in the home and at work
The launch in the summer of Amazon
Echo and Google Home represents
an important stage in the evolution
of speech as a user interface. Most
people are already familiar with
voice-activated personal assistants
like Apple’s Siri, but the thousands of
applications and devices these voice-
activated wireless speakers work with
mean that using speech as a machine
interface will soon become second
nature.
Futuresource Consulting estimates
that in 2016 6.3 million ‘voice assistant’
speakers capable of communicating
with other smart home applications
were shipped worldwide, pointing out
that people are already using Echo to
turn lights on and off, to control heating
and to order pizza.
Rasika D’Souza, senior market
analyst, audio devices at Futuresource
Consulting, said: “Over the next two to
three years we’re going to see the voice
interface flourish.Where visual and
touch have dominated to date, voice
and speakers will become more relevant
for certain environments. Longer term,
we’re going to see integration with TVs,
appliances, light bulbs and furniture.”
Futuresource’s confidence is shared
by Nuance Communications. Its speech
recognition and artificial intelligence
(AI) technology is used not only in
solutions for the smart home, notably
Dragon TV, which enables users to
search for films and TV shows by voice,
but also in a huge variety of business
and industrial applications.
Nuance recently held an open day
in London, where it highlighted some of
these key applications, including:
Keyboard replacement
:
The company’s
Dragon speech recognition software is
used by more than 22 million individuals
to work smarter in the office and on the
road. As well as enabling more efficient
document creation, through fast, accurate
dictation and the ability to control a
PC using spoken commands, Dragon
improves accessibility by enabling workers
with disabilities, wrist injuries, dyslexia or
RSI to use speech instead of a keyboard.
Healthcare:
Nuance produces versions
of its software with industry-specific
vocabularies, such as Dragon Medical,
currently used by 500,000 clinicians
and 10,000 healthcare organisations
worldwide.Within 12 months of
implementing the solution to capture
patient information and create clinical
documents,Waterloo Medical Group
had achieved cost savings of £15,000,
reduced turnaround times, enhanced
staff well-being and improved the quality
of its documentation. In the UK, Dragon
Medical is used by Great Ormond Street
Hospital, NHS Plymouth, Alder Hey and
Macmillan Cancer Nurses.
Customer service bots:
Nina, Nuance’s
multichannel intelligent virtual assistant
for enterprise, offers personalised
self-service over the web and through
mobile apps. Research commissioned by
Nuance shows that 89% of consumers
want to engage in conversation with
virtual assistants to find information
more quickly. Consumers can ask Nina
questions by typing or speaking into
their device, saving them the trouble of
searching for the answer on a company
website. This also allows businesses to
cut costs by reducing customer service
All talk
staffing levels. Nina is currently being
used by ING, Santander and Swedbank,
where after three months it was able
to answer just over 80% of customer
queries. Since Nina is intelligent and
learns from each interaction, this success
rate will only improve.
Voice biometrics:
Because each
individual has a unique voice print,
speech can be used for authentication,
replacing the need to remember
passwords and PINs with a more reliable,
secure alternative.
Connected car:
More than 160 million
cars are powered by Nuance technology,
including models from Ford, Audi,
Mercedes, Toyota and BMW. The Dragon
Drive platform, Nuance’s in-car virtual
assistant, enables drivers to access
apps and services by voice, including
navigation, music, message dictation
and the calendar. Nuance claims that
a speech interface can improve safety
as users are able to keep their eyes on
the road as they change radio station,
get directions or send a text message.
Nuance’s Contextual Reasoning
Framework, a cloud-based service within
Dragon Drive, leverages AI to deliver
personalised recommendations, based
on a driver’s preferences, location and
situation. For example, it could direct you
to undercover parking when it’s raining
or to the nearest petrol station when you
are low on fuel.
As these examples show, Nuance is
using its expertise in speech recognition
technology to reinvent the relationship
between people and technology.With
new entrants like Amazon and Google
also transforming how we interact
with consumer electronics, it seems
clear that speech interfaces will play an
increasingly prominent role in our lives.
Swedbank uses
the Nina virtual
assistant to answer
customer calls
Amazon Echo
Speech Recognition
Where visual
and touch have
dominated to
date, voice and
speakers will
become more
relevant
