History of Speech Recognition

While AT&T Bell Laboratories developed a primitive device that could recognize speech in the 1940s, researchers knew that the widespread use of speech recognition would depend on the ability to accurately and consistently perceive subtle and complex verbal input.

Thus, in the 1960s, researchers turned their focus towards a series of smaller goals that would aid in developing the larger speech recognition system. As a first step, developers created a device that would use discrete speech, verbal stimuli punctuated by small pauses. However, in the 1970s, continuous speech recognition, which does not require the user to pause between words, began. This technology became functional during the 1980s and is still being developed and refined today.

Speech Recognition Systems have become so advanced and mainstream that business and health care professionals are turning to speech recognition solutions for everything from providing telephone support to writing medical reports. Technological advances have made speech recognition software and devices more functional and user friendly, with most contemporary products performing tasks with over 90 percent accuracy.

According to figures provided by industry. Satisfying the needs of consumers and businesses by simplifying customer interaction, increasing efficiency, and reducing operating costs, speech recognition is used in a wide range of applications. Furthermore, Allied Business Intelligence (ABI), the increased popularity of speech recognition will push revenues from $677 million in 2002 to an estimated $5.3 Billion by 2008. Indeed, recent advances in speech recognition software are creating a dynamic environment, since this technology appeals to anyone who needs or wants a hands-free approach to computing tasks. As the merger of large vocabularies and continuous recognition continues, look for more and more companies to move toward speech recognition and watch the industry take its place as a leader in the technology sector.