We’ve recently added support for Microsoft’s Speech Platform directly into our Voice Elements Platform. This is exciting for several reasons:
Speech Recognition
We are able to provide a very low cost option for Speech Recognition. Previously, we relied on expensive 3rd party products, but because Microsoft provides the Microsoft Speech Platform as a free download, we are able to provide our Speech connector at a cost of $10 per port. This is orders of magnitude cheaper than any other competing products.
In addition, we’ve found that the performance in many instances has been much better than some of the other products that costs hundreds of dollars per port.
Text To Speech
Ever since Microsoft XP, Microsoft has provided free Text To Speech Voices. However, these voices just didn’t sound natural at all (think robot voices from bad 1960s B movies!) Microsoft now provides several different TTS voices free of charge with Microsoft Speech Platform. We feel that these voices sound good, and are an excellent option.
Multiple Language Support
One of the features that we’re most excited about, is that Microsoft’s Speech Platform supports 18 different languages, and several variations (for example, US English vs UK English). These different languages are supported using both Speech Recognition, and their Text To Speech voices. This means you can support multiple languages in your IVR or telephony application. Here are a few of the languages supported:
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- English
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- Chinese
- Korean
- Russian
- French
- German
For a complete list, please visit the Microsoft Speech Platform website.
For more information about how Voice Elements uses Speech Recognition with the Microsoft Speech Platform, please refer to this article: Create A Simple Speech Recognition Application