... requires about fifty keypad clicks, while voice input allows that message to be keyed in five times faster than with a keypad.
Another reason why voice input of a mobile phones menus and contact lists is proving popular is that it allows someone to use a phone and dial a number without looking at the keypad. This is of particular value to drivers, who are now able to make full use of their phone in a completely hands-free mode.
In fact, automotive applications look set to be a big growth area for speech technology. At the 2006 Geneva Motor Show, Fiat Auto in conjunction with Microsoft and Nuance Communications launched Blue&Me, a voice activated in-vehicle communications and entertainment system. It is based upon the Windows Mobile for Automotive operating system and allows drivers to integrate mobile phones, digital media players and other personal electronics devices with in-vehicle systems.
Blue&Me is compatible with most mobile phones with Bluetooth hands-free technology, and is currently available in nine languages: Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Polish, UK English, Dutch and French. "Drivers can keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel, and consumers will enjoy their personal mobile devices in a safer and more integrated environment while on the road," says Craig Peddie, vice president and general manager for embedded speech solutions at Nuance.
Another area where speech technology is finding growing popularity is in speech-to-text dictation systems for use by professionals, such as doctors and lawyers. This is potentially a huge market and in the healthcare area alone it is estimated that more than $15bn (£8bn) is spent annually on the manual transcription of doctor's notes. The advent of specialist voice input dictation systems from companies like Philips and Nuance look set to generate big savings in this area of health expenditure.
"Improvements in speech technology and pressures on the healthcare industry create a compelling opportunity to transform manual transcription through speech-enabled solutions," said Paul Ricci, chairman and chief executive at Nuance. "The adoption of speech recognition [will] eliminate most manual transcription for healthcare in North America this decade, delivering over $5bn in savings to care facilities and transcription service organisations."
This view was backed up in a recent Frost and Sullivan Report on the "Market for European Health Care Voice Recognition Systems". The report noted: "The combined benefits of voice recognition and healthcare information systems, such as EMR/PACS/HIS, are important in extending the productive range of healthcare organisations and individuals alike, particularly in today's demanding healthcare environment."
Traditionally viewed as simply a means of dictating text into a personal computer, today's voice recognition software can play a far more significant role in the healthcare environment. In addition to pure...
