Voice Elements supports the use of speech recognition technology. Speech recognition is used in a wide range of voice applications, from automated outbound dialing systems to a simple office call router.
Speech Recognition Basics
The type of speech recognition that is used with Voice Elements is Speaker Independent, meaning that the software can take spoken input from a wide variety of speakers, rather than one specific person. In addition, the software relies on a grammar file which contains all of the possible utterances that one would expect to say when interacting with a particular voice application. Therefore, if a user of a voice application utters a word that is not in the grammar, it will not be recognized.
Although your first instincts are to simply speech enable your existing DTMF (Touch Tone) applications, doing so does not leverage the power and strengths of speech recognition. In other words, speech enabling a DTMF application will not make the system smoother, faster, or easier-to-use.
Migrating a DTMF application and prompt design does not fully utilize the conversational aspect of speech. For speech recognition applications to perform well, the call flow and dialog design is crucial. Designers must study the user patterns of the existing system, so they can redesign prompts, menus, and change the steps of the call flow to make the experience faster and more pleasant for callers.
Voice Elements is built to leverage and support the Microsoft Speech Platform which provides free of charge speech recognition and Text-to-Speech.
For more information about the MS Speech platform, including links to download and support, please see the article: Install Microsoft Speech Platform
Test our Voice Recognition with Demo Samples
As part of the Voice Elements demo, we have included a speech recognition sample application. The sample demonstrates how to receive an inbound call and how to answer and test the speech recognition functions.
To use this sample, select “Voice Recognition” in the “Use this sample for inbound calls” drop down menu in the toolbar of the Voice Elements demo.
You can use our speech recognition resources for testing purposes within the 30-day trial of Voice Elements. Sign up for a Free Demo and take our Speech Recognition for a test drive!