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The Telephone Will Provide a New Base for Technology Growth
Advanced Speech Technologies are Changing the Perception of This Pervasive Device
TARZANA, Calif., Dec 12, 2002 - Telephone callers today are often faced with a confusing forest of touch-tone
choices. "The voice user interface represented by speech recognition, text-to-speech synthesis, and speaker verification is a quantum leap in
usability," according to Bill Meisel, president of TMA Associates, the publisher of Speech Recognition Update newsletter and organizer of the
annual Telephony Voice User Interface Conference. Speech recognition is increasingly being used so a caller can interact with a system by
speaking. Text-to-speech can read text sources or deliver information from databases in a artificial, but natural-sounding, voice; and speaker
verification uses the unique qualities of a person's voice as a biometric authentication that they are who they claim to be.
The telephone voice user interface is not technical speculation, Meisel notes. It is broadly used by carriers such as AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS,
and Verizon Wireless to provide nationwide services such as information access and dialing by name. It is used widely by financial companies
such as Charles Schwab, travel companies such as American Airlines, and other companies such as Office Depot to automate customer service.
And the growth is international, with voice-enabled services proliferating in Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
Much as standardized Web browsers opened a way for mass use of automated services using the PC, speech technologies open the telephone
for mass use of automated services with wired and wireless telephones. And, like the Web, standards are being developed that allow rapid
growth of automated telephone services. One standard, VoiceXML, which is managed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), is already
broadly deployed, and other standards that integrate speech and graphical interaction on PCs or advanced wireless devices are maturing. The
latter includes Speech Application Language Tags, with strong support from Microsoft, and XHTML + Voice (X+V), with committed support
from IBM.
"There has been an implicit assumption that Internet-like services on the telephone must await the wide availability of high-speed digital networks
and specialized devices," Meisel said. "In fact, it is not necessary to change today's wireless and wired phones to use a voice user interface. The
technology can all be in the network. Eventually specialized phones and PDAs will add further flexibility to the user interface, while retaining the
voice user interface as a core capability."
Meisel cautioned that the analogy to the Internet shouldn't be taken too far. "The Web experience is an example of how easy-to-use automated
services can expand marketing and service opportunities," Meisel said, "but the telephone is not just a way of getting to Internet services by a
different device. Some Internet services are not easily used by telephone, and some telephone services would not work well on the Internet. The
telephone, in particular, has advantages in situations where a dialog -- many turns in a conversation -- is necessary to complete a transaction, a
process that might be slow and annoying if one had to transition through many Web pages to achieve the same result."
Meisel added, "With a telephone, it is also easy to transition from an automated service to talking with a person. In customer service, we can
talk to an agent if the automated service doesn't serve our needs. In telecommunications, we can listen to voice messages and say, `Call them
back.'"
Telecommunications companies and equipment and software suppliers will find a new path to growth through automated voice services, driving
a technology infrastructure upgrade at enterprises and at telecommunications companies. Early market growth fueled by innovations in speech
technology has stalled, however, because of the current downturn in IT spending and, in particular, the severe reduction in capital spending by
telecommunications companies facing a profit squeeze. "Companies are also pausing to assess the best speech strategy, one which leaves them
with the right applications and platforms to build on," Meisel said. "The building of this foundation is creating a long-term base for growth."
TELEPHONY VOICE USER INTERFACE CONFERENCE
TMA Associates' Telephony Voice User Interface Conference (the Fifth Annual Conference on commercial opportunities created by telephone
speech recognition, text-to-speech, and speaker verification), addresses the business impact for enterprises and service providers of the
maturing of telephone speech technology. TVUI 2003 will be held February 3-5, 2003, at the Hotel del Coronado, Coronado (San Diego),
California. An early registration discount is available through December 31. Further conference information is available at
www.tmaa.com/conference or 856/985-8008.
The conference principal sponsors are AT&T, Enterprise Integration Group, IBM, Microsoft, Nuance, and SpeechWorks, with supporting
sponsors Intervoice, LocusDialog, Loquendo, Lumenvox, ScanSoft, VoiceGenie, and West Corporation. Publication sponsors are Speech
Recognition Update, Speech Technology Magazine, ContactCenterWorld.com, and CRMXchange.
PRESS REGISTRATION FOR CONFERENCE
Members of the press are invited to register for the Telephony Voice User Interface Conference on the Web site at
www.tmaa.com/conference or by calling Tina Janney at 856/985-8008.
ABOUT TMA ASSOCIATES
TMA Associates also publishes Speech Recognition Update newsletter and offers market studies, conferences, and consulting in business and
marketing aspects of speech technology. TMA Associates covers applications of speech recognition, text-to-speech, and speaker verification.
William Meisel, the well-known independent speech industry expert, is the president of TMA Associates.
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