BUYER'S GUIDE: Voice Recognition Systems

I Command You

BY MICHAEL ANTONIAK

Can your technology hear you now? The latest voice recognition systems will not only talk to you but also understand your voice commands so that you can access anything from phone numbers to directions to listing data. Voice recognition systems have improved their performance over the past few years and are finding their way into cell phones and GPS navigation systems, speech-driven software, and even the MLS. For you, that means on-the-go convenience, safety, and efficiency.

When Andrew Walsh, a sales associate with RE/MAX 2000 in Gilbert, Ariz., purchased his Infiniti G35 Sedan last year, it came with a factory-installed GPS system with voice recognition and Bluetooth capability. “When an MLS listing doesn’t come with good directions, I don’t have to worry about entering an address or looking at a map,” he says. “I push a button on the steering wheel [to activate the voice recognition] and announce the address, and the system tells me how to get there.”

To place a call on his Samsung smart phone, David Friedberg, CRB, senior vice president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Brookline, Mass., simply speaks a name and then directs the phone to dial a home, office, or mobile number. “When using the phone in my car, it’s the safest way to dial,” he says. “When I’m not driving, I can also use voice recognition to launch e-mail or retrieve a Word or Excel document” for viewing on the smart phone’s screen.

His company is also using text-to-speech conversion. A lead routing system automatically dials associates’ cell phones when incoming leads via e-mail are received. If an associate accepts a call, the message is read over the phone by the computer in a synthesized voice. “It’s a way we can get the lead to salespeople within minutes, whether or not they have e-mail access,” Friedberg says.

Such solutions could one day become routine. Subscribers to Fidelity National Information Services’ Paragon MLS program can receive MLS updates by phone and access, search, and retrieve listing information with spoken commands.

And Nuance Communications is in discussions to upgrade its voice recognition software, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, to work with cell phones, says Chris Strammiello, the company’s director of product management for productivity applications. Within a year, you may be able to read an e-mail on your phone, speak your response, say “send,” and then have it converted to text and sent as an e-mail. How’s that for convenience?

What to Expect

If you experimented with early versions of voice-recognition software, you were probably disappointed by the results. Rest assured, the technology has come a long way since then. Here’s how to reap the most benefit:

• Train yourself and the software. Hardware and software with speech-recognition capabilities usually include training scripts and commands. Even if it works out of the box, use these exercises to fine-tune the software to the nuances of how you speak.
  
• Enunciate and articulate. Speak slowly and clearly enough that your words are easily recognizable and understood. Mumbling or speaking in a hushed tone just makes it difficult for the software to figure out what you’re saying. Eliminate unnecessary background noise.
  
• Read the results. The software may allow you to set aside your keyboard, but it doesn’t remove responsibility for proofing your text. Speech doesn’t always translate into effective written communication, so revise accordingly.