Date:24/05/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/05/24/stories/2009052456131500.htm
National Speech recognition software that bridges the digital divide Ramya Kannan User has to only call out his option instead of keying it in -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Firm claims 90 per cent success of the software The service is now available in 11 Indian languages -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHENNAI: One child's game is another man's impediment. In technology, what's easy for some can be completely obfuscating for others. Even if it is as basic as sending a Short Message Service (SMS). A recent survey by a mobile service provider showed that over 65 per cent of their subscribers, who sought to subscribe to a particular service, never got it because they were frustrated with the process of sending an SMS to activate it. With mobile telephony reaching out to the semi-urban and rural markets, voice is the primary service; SMS usage may be minimal. This is where interactive voice response (IVR), in a more sophisticated avatar, steps in. Speech recognition is going to be the medium to bridge the digital divide says C. Mohan Ram, Managing Director, LatticeBridge Infotech (LBT). The company has been in the computational linguistics segment over the last seven years, developing regional language recognition software with customisations built in for speech inflexions. How different is their service from a regular IVR software? "Most IVR systems require a user to press certain keys on the phone or send an SMS for fulfilling his/her request. If someone is not comfortable with that, then IVR fails," Mr. Mohan Ram says. Sometimes, users are not comfortable with using English letters to tap out on their keypads. Instead, speech recognition only requires a user to call out his option (instead of keying it in) to get the answer. For instance, if you call for information about the status of your ticket's PNR number, you will not have to punch out the digits and letters on the phone, just say them aloud. The software recognises your voice and gives you the answer. The service is currently available in 11 Indian languages with a fair degree of customisation for accent and dialect variances. "The crucial indicator of success of such software - First Attempt Recognition - is fantastic for our product. Having 80 per cent means the product is good. We have about 90 per cent," he explained. Speech recognition also has an advantage for the service provider. In a customer-provider interface, the ideal way is to use people, but that may not always be possible because of cost and human resource considerations. The next best, obviously, is automated speech. Intelligent, at that. Currently, speech recognition has uses in four segments - telecom sector, travel, logistics and transport sectors, banking and financial sectors and media and entertainment industry. A. Mani, Manager - IS, Indian Oil Corporation, says the company has been using the speech software since 2005 for their dealers. "All our dealers have to do is to call a centralised toll-free number for details about billing, vehicle number and document number. They are very comfortable with it." Southern Railways, which first used a Tamil speech recognition software in the public domain for a record number of users, was happy with the product. T. Venkatasubramanian, General Manager, CRIS, Indian Railways, who helped put in place the system initially, says, "IVR is one of the most unfriendly systems. It does not help the technologically challenged and it is also a dumb system. If it malfunctions there is nothing we can do. So, speech recognition was a good option for us." Another key area in which the software is likely to be useful is in human resource development. A. Chandrasekaran, founder, Infycareer, says LBT's product helps his firm, which is a high-end consulting and training organisation, separate the wheat from the chaff. "We use the human interface only at a more advanced stage in the process." To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
