Speech & More

Due to the increasing use of mobile phones and future integrated devices (GPRS, UMTS terminals), there is a growing need for mobile access to information services. Spoken language interfaces are increasingly important because the mobile devices don't feature comfortable keyboards for input, and also because the users' hands are not always free for device operation. One precondition for spoken language interfaces is robust speech recognition which can handle regional variants. The project has already created two spoken language databases which cover the regional variants of the German language as spoken in Austria, recorded over the fixed and mobile telephone networks, respectively. A second focus of the project is on the integration of spoken language interfaces in applications that will run on mobile devices. We have developed a spoken language dialog system for Austrian postal rates. Future demonstrators will explore flexible combinations of spoken language interfaces with other input devices, in particular with pen-input via touch-screens. Currently there are intensive efforts on a global scale to create standardised components and interfaces for applications using spoken language. The project tracks these standardizations (e.g. VoiceXML, DSR, JSAPI, MATE) and related market trends (Voice Web) and tests them in demonstrators. not assigned KP: 5 industrial cooperation partners within ftw.