Tag: productivity voice assistant

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No Going Back: Voice Input Is Set to Replace Typing

Voice technology is going to replace typing, and it’s going to happen soon. There is nothing we can do about it, but that’s a good thing.

Wait, what’s going on?

Physical keyboards (and that includes touchscreens) are about to suffer a mass extinction event by way of voice technology. It might not seem obvious, because most of the world lives in the eye of the storm. But if you look at the big picture, you start to notice the pattern.

  • Your grandma uses voice input, and so do all of her friends. She can’t type, but that doesn’t make her any less efficient. She mastered it seemingly overnight.
  • Your kids use voice input. They goad Alexa into helping them with home assignments. They make their favourite characters tell them stories, and employ black magic trickery to change how their voice sounds online.
  • More and more apps get voice-adjacent features, especially speech-to-text.
  • Said speech-to-text is nearing 100% accuracy. (We’d know, we have developed a device relying on that exact fact.)
  • Voice tech revenues.

What about those cases when using a keyboard is the only option, you ask. Like when you text your friend on the bus, quietly. Or type a report in your cubicle surrounded by identical cubicles where other reports are being typed out. What about users with a speech impairment? Strong accent? Sore throat?

 

Yeah, no.

The world secretly hates their keyboards.

 

Voice is going to replace typing. Brain chips are going to replace typing. The process has begun. Typing is going to be replaced for the very same reason why you no longer use candles for illumination. Several inventions combine, creating the suitable zeitgeist. Faster information processing is calling for faster input.

 

Typing was always a temporary crutch.

 

Entering commands letter by letter seems barbaric when you know just how fast your laptop really is.

 

It seems even more barbaric when you eventually develop carpal tunnel syndrome and scoliosis from communicating with the machine in slow-mo.

 

Now that we have better ways to talk to computers, typing is going to fade into obscurity. I like to think the invention of the computer mouse landed the first blow and broke the keyboard-centric paradigm.

Even writing by hand is better than typing.

 

I mean, it’s objectively faster and you can write on anything. Writing is closer to voice input than typing is. Think about that.

 

When?

The keyboard is going to be on its last legs by the 2030s. Most people are going to be using the combination of voice technology and predictive typing (bastardised, simplified keyboard layout). When the brain-computer interface devices become affordable and mainstream, the keyboard will disappear.

Do you want to help us kill the keyboard?

Check out our website and tell us what you think.

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Top 5 Unexpected Benefits of Wearable Technology

While wearables offer many benefits we’re familiar with, like helping us stay in shape, they have some underrated, surprising advantages. Even the devices you already know and love can impact your life positively in more ways than you expect.

This article is 100% good news, no flavor enhancer needed.

Benefit #1. Improved mental health.

The overabundance of technology is often cited as a source of stress, but many wearables benefit a user by reducing their stress levels.

 

For example, wearables can help alleviate anxiety. A device like Senstone Scripter minimizes your time online without sacrificing productivity, so you can take a break from the notifications and still get things done.

 

Fitness bracelets calm you down just by providing real-time statistics on your vitals, which makes you feel in control. In the long run, they help you make better lifestyle decisions, which again impacts mental well-being.

Breathing patterns is another thing wearable tech can track and notify you about. This can be used for breathing exercise and stress monitoring.

Benefit #2. Better posture.

 

Counting steps is one thing, but did you know wearables can correct your posture? This particular market is a diverse niche that offers many good options: from a gadget that vibrates when you start slouching to posture trackers that send detailed statistics to your phone. Whatever you choose, your back is going to thank you.


Benefit #3. Enhanced learning.

Wearable technology is a boon to educators because it gives them more options. VR and AR are especially useful in the classroom. They allow for truly interactive lessons, which gives students a better grasp on scientific concepts.

Voice-to-text wearables are another helpful innovation, and we have covered them in more detail here.

Benefit #4. Healthier relationships.

 

Another benefit of wearable technology that might surprise you is this: it can help you maintain a healthy relationship.

Again, this might seem counterintuitive to some people. We are used to computers and phones taking away from our family time, and a promise to solve this problem with more technology seems suspicious. And yet, wearables have succeeded.

Some of them make communication easier. Others are designed for couples, like the device that lets you feel your partner’s heartbeat in real time. “Friendship lamps” are a thing as well, a concept that is both incredibly neat and heart-warming.

 

And, of course, we have to mention virtual reality. With VR, you get to share a virtual space with another person. You can talk, explore the interactive environment, and play video games together. Physical distance doesn’t matter.

 

Benefit #5. Environmental awareness.

 

Wearables can help our planet in a number of creative ways, raising awareness on a personal level and actually making an impact. For instance, there is a cotton apron that captures carbon dioxide. There are also CO₂ tracker wristbands, and nothing makes climate change a more pressing issue than watching your carbon dioxide meter go haywire in the middle of the street.

 

To sum up, wearable technology is expanding. It’s gone beyond basic fitness bands. Now we can use its advantages, such as mobility, to solve problems in new, unconventional ways.

 

And you know what? Unconventional is our speciality. This article has been brought to you by Senstone. Check out this homepage to learn more about cutting edge wearables. Follow us on social media or contact us at team@senstone.io if you have any questions. Stay cool!

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How Do Wearables Connect to Your Smartphone?

Have you ever wondered how wearables connect to a smartphone? How do they “know” to send data to your phone specifically? What type of connection do they use? How does it work? Read on, and we’ll do our best to answer these questions.

 

Why Do Wearables Connect to Other Devices?

 

Before we get into how wearables connect to smartphones, let’s establish why they need to connect to your phone at all.

Unlike your laptop, most wearables are highly specialized. That means they were designed to perform only a certain amount of functions. For example, Senstone is a wearable voice-to-text recorder. Its functions are: 1) record audio on demand, 2) store the recordings, 3) make sure audio is transferred to the cloud storage and processed by artificial intelligence. As you can see, step 3 relegates the data to a more generalist and powerful machine.

 

This “division of labor” is what makes wearables so efficient. They connect to other devices and access their computing power. The ability to connect is a core feature, and wearables rely on it a lot.

  • Notifications are sent and received.
  • Commands allow you to control other devices.
  • Data is collected for storage and analysis. This is how you get your activity stats in real time.
  • More functions, such as AI spell checking, can be accessed by sending the data for processing to another computer.

In short, wearables really do need to connect to other devices. And your phone is perfect for the job!

Wearables & Wireless Connection(s)

 

We’ve come closer to answering the original question: how do wearables connect to smartphones? The reason why people ask this a lot is because they cannot see a visible proof of connection, i. e. wires.

 

Wireless technology shaped wearables as we know them. There would be no wireless headphones without a way for them to receive the music they are supposed to play.

With the many types of wearables we have today, there are several different technologies used to connect a gadget to your phone.

  • Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Bluetooth Classic. These two standards are the most common ways for your wearable to connect to your phone. Devices supporting Bluetooth connect using ultra-high frequency radio waves. You need to enable Bluetooth on  both devices and pair them so that they automatically exchange data when nearby. The BLE standard is cheaper and better suited for low-power gadgets, and this is why most Bluetooth wearables run BLE.
  • Wi-Fi. Some wearables can connect to your smartphone via the regular Wi-Fi. This allows for a greater range and faster data transfer speeds. To connect your wearable to your smartphone via Wi-Fi, you usually need to connect both devices to the same Wi-Fi network and  then pair them.
  • Near Field Communication (NFC). NFC is a short-range technology that allows for contactless communication between two devices in very close proximity (4 cm or less). Some wearables have NFC capabilities, allowing you to pair them with your smartphone by simply holding the devices close together. Contactless payments is the usual reason for running NFC on a wearable.
  • ANT+. An ultra-low-power protocol. Unlike others on the list, ANT is meant for sports wearables.

Some wearables can use more than one protocol. The specific methods of connectivity will heavily depend on the make and model of wearable and smartphone, so you can always refer to the user manual for more information on how to connect your gadgets.


This post has been brought to you by Senstone. As a company, we have been actively contributing to wearable technology for years. You can visit our homepage – or read another article about cutting-edge inventions and trends. Stay cool!

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Miniaturization of Technology & How It Affects You

Progress never stands still, and the miniaturization of technology is one of its most significant steps; like the Moon landing but less flashy. It has revolutionized the way we interact with the world, but a revolution can be hard to spot when you’re immersed in it.

 

In this article we will explore the ways miniaturization has changed our lives for the better.

 

What is the Miniaturization of Technology?

 

Miniaturization of technology could also be called “shrinking”. Devices shrink, that is, we successfully manufacture them to be smaller. Remember when the TV looked like a box and weighed like a small elephant?

 

 

TV sets evolved in several steps. They strived not only for image quality but also the miniaturization of the whole set.

 

  • 410 kg, or 903 lbs – weight of the first TV (try to mount that on a wall)
  • 40 kg, or 88 lbs – weight of an old 25” CRT TV
  • 5.3 kg, or 11.6 lbs – weight of a 32” QLED TV

And TV is not the sole example. Pretty much everything tech keeps getting reduced in size. Phones, personal computers, cameras, headphones, data storage devices, even cars.

 

Advances in electronics have made it possible to fit an enormous quantity of transistor nodes on a square nanometre of space. This means the actual working component can be minuscule and the body surrounding it can be scaled down and/or enhanced.

 

The Impact of Miniaturized Tech

 

Apart from the fact that the miniaturization of technology has enabled us to create new types of gadgets, it has also changed our perceptions and expectations. This effect is not very obvious, but its importance is often understated.

 

When faced with two gadgets of otherwise identical features, we are going to pick the smaller one.

 

 

No one would buy an old-school brick-like smartphone. As consumers, we steer the manufacturers with our money. We also recognise (sometimes subconsciously) the direction in which the world of technology is headed.

 

Is this a good thing?

 

Personally, I think it’s great, and I know many people would agree with this opinion. We have set the bar for portable, miniaturized tech, because it’s convenient. If you can take your whole archive of documents and fit it onto a tiny chip, there is no reason to deny yourself the efficiency. Once you get a taste of the freedom, you make it your standard.

 

But we also dream of something more. The era of wearables is beginning in earnest, with AI-powered wearable recorders and consumer-grade exoskeletons. Reduction in size combined with the increase in power seems to be one of those inspiring trends that you just hope keeps on keeping on.

 

This post has been brought to you by Senstone. As a company, we have been actively contributing to the miniaturization of technology for years. You can visit our homepage – or read another article about cutting-edge inventions and trends. Stay cool!

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Wearable Art Is Not What You Think

 

What Sophie de Oliveira Barata makes is wearable art, and she illustrates her point using pictures of her one-of-a-kind prosthetic limbs. Most of them are highly impractical: they are meant to be flaunted, shown off, photographed. Her creations bridge the gap between wearable gadgets and artwear.

 

She is not the only one who merges art with wearable technology.

 

The Kind of Art to Wear

 

Wearable art used to mean unique, imaginative clothing items. Not fashion but art coincidentally shaped like something to wear. While the basic definition still holds, the “clothing” part has been evolving, and technology is the usual suspect.

 

One of the first innovations to make it into the world of wearable art was the tiny, inconspicuous LED. It enabled fashion designers to incorporate light into their projects. Glowing dresses and body-turned-installation, predictably, followed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image credit: Maria Castellanos

 

But here’s a thing about art: it shrugs off function as well as mass production.

 

Mundane wearable devices like a fitness watch did not conquer the artwear scene. Wearable art is never mass produced. A limited edition wristband would not qualify as art as long as its primary functions remain telling time and counting steps instead of expressing an artistic concept. The line between art and ornament becomes pretty clear when approached (and surprisingly few do approach it).

 

The core hardware involved in wearables, however, has been adopted by the wearable art creators as soon as it entered the market.

 

The Kind of Wearables to Art Up

 

More and more, wearable technology becomes the vehicle for wearable art. These days it is responsible for all the moving, glowing, and interactive parts.

 

Cutting-edge microchips enabled Sophie de Oliveira Barata to make her prosthetic art reality. They also inspired the attendants of the International Conference on Art and Technology in the Spanish Bilbao.

 

Behnaz Farahi, an Iranian-born American architect and designer, used the occasion to present her wearable art in the form of “emotive fabric”. It changes shape in response to different stimuli and, being connected to the wearer through multiple sensors, can react to their emotions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image credit: Behnaz Farahi

 

Another spectacular example of wearable art is the project by Maria Castellanos and Alberto Valverde. Dubbed as “The Environment Dress”, it’s a peculiar-looking fashion statement that measures the level of intensity and aggression surrounding its wearer throughout the day. Temperature, noise, radiation, and even CO2 levels are fed into the sensors, making the dress emit light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image credit: Maria Castellanos

 

 

And if all of the above sounds interesting to you, annual events like the Technarte Conference (Spain), World of Wearable Art (New Zealand), or The Wearable Art Show (Canada) offer a real spread of wearable art – as well as art in technology, including 3D printed pieces.

 

This article has been brought to you by Senstone. We make stylish and functional wearables for busy people. Check out the homepage to learn more about our wearable speech-to-text recorder. Follow us for more news about the world of wearables.

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The Wearable Voice Recorder Is Going Next-Gen

The production of Senstone Scripter, a next-gen wearable voice recorder, started in Q4 2022. The announcement was made through social media and preceded by a number of increasingly visual hints, so there is a lot of detail to unpack (no pun intended).

 

Senstone Scripter Features

 

For those unfamiliar with the brand, Senstone specialises in wearable recorders for high-tech note-taking.

 

Senstone Scripter is marketed as “a unique wearable designed for instant note-taking” – and a direct successor to the company’s 2019 Scripter. It’s a small screenless device that can be attached to your clothes with a clip or worn around your neck as a pendant. A single button starts and stops the recording.

The most notable features:

  • speech-to-text on the fly
  • speech recognition for multiple languages
  • high-quality audio recording

  • can work offline

The packaging is small and minimalistic. This is what you can find inside the box:

  • Senstone Scripter
  • USB Type-C charging cable
  • magnet clip and pendant
  • lace with bayonet closure and magnetic aid

A QR code on the side of the package takes you to the user manual page. Another QR code links to the Senstone app on Play Market (Android) or App Store (iOS). There is no physical user manual available for Scripter, all to reduce the carbon footprint of its production.

 

Old Gen vs. Next Gen

 

The Kickstarter page used to fund the production of the recorder gives us plenty of info on the exact specs. More breadcrumbs gathered through the official social media account, and we know exactly how Scripter compares to the previous version.

 

Languages

  • new gen: 19 languages

Speech-to-text quality

  • 90% for old gen
  • 99% for new gen

Battery

  • old gen: 65 mAz battery
  • new gen: 230 mAz battery (3.5x longer battery life)

Length of a single recording

  • old gen: 3 min
  • new gen: 60 min+ (20x longer recording length)

Storage capacity of device (excluding app)

  • old gen: 248 Mbit
  • new gen: 1 Gbit (4x more memory)

Audio frequency

  • old gen: 8 Khz
  • new gen: 16 Khz (2x)

Other improvements include the new Bluetooth standard 5.1 versus the old 4.0 – 4.2. A professional-grade microphone allows for higher audio frequency and better quality of recording and AI processing.

 

Release Date & Price

 

The wearable recorder is scheduled for release in 2023. As of December 2022, the exact date is to be revealed.

 

As for the price, it’s going to be $229 for one unit.

 

There is no mandatory monthly subscription (pay-to-use) but you have the option to purchase the premium plan. It enables personalised dictionaries and some other perks accessible through the app.

 

If you would like to know more about Scripter, the AI-powered wearable recorder scheduled for 2023, visit the dedicated page on Senstone website.

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5 Benefits of Wearable Technology in the Workplace

Consumer-grade wearable technology has been around for a good decade, but it has only recently started to gain traction in the workplace. There are many potential benefits to using wearable gadgets, both for the employer and the employee. Some of those benefits are easy to predict, and some can be quite surprising.

1. Increased productivity.

One of the most important improvements wearable tech brings to the table is the productivity boost. It’s very noticeable and nearly instant. By allowing employees to access, record, and exchange data more easily, wearables can help streamline processes and reduce the amount of time spent micromanaging mundane tasks.

  • Taking notes. Wearable speech-to-text recorders like Senstone Scripter.
  • Monitoring health parameters and stress. Smart watches like FitBit Charge.
  • Identification. ID badges, wrist bands, and even rings.
  • Lifting heavy packages. Exoskeletons? Why not.

In addition, wearables can provide you with real-time feedback and statistics. This helps workers and businesses identify areas in which they both can become more efficient.

2. Easier communication.

Wearables can also give a boost to everyday communication in the workplace. By allowing the team to stay connected to each other, wearable gadgets can help ensure that information is relayed quickly and effectively.

Wearables can provide you with an easy way to access help or support in case of an emergency. The data gathered by the wearable is stored in the cloud and can be shared with colleagues instantly.

3. Workplace safety boost.

Here’s the one you don’t hear often: wearables can save lives. This is one of the reasons why them being reliable is such a big deal. The raw potential here is great but we already have some amazing systems making the workplace safer for everyone.

A wristband connected to a sensor can signal the wearer about chemicals in the air. Warnings, such as air raid alerts, can be transmitted to the smart watch. Vitals transmitted to the wearable can be used to help you take proper breaks.

4. Transparency and trust.

In recent years, there has been a growing movement toward greater transparency in the workplace. There are many ways in which wearable technology can support and encourage this amazing trend.

For example, making the data collected by wearables available to the entire team in real time does wonders for morale. Everyone feels – and is – included.

5. Worker satisfaction.

Companies are always looking for new ways to keep their employees satisfied. They know that happy employees lead to worker retention, good reviews, and, of course, more profit.

Wearable technology can do a lot to improve the workplace environment. It can help employees stay connected and make sure they are comfortable. It can also help employers keep track of tasks and make sure the management and the managed stay on the same page.

 

Naturally, it’s vital to ensure that employees are comfortable with the technology before implementing it in a company. Some training is necessary, even if the wearable in question is an intuitive screen-free solution.

Still, in the world of enterprise, time equals money and wearables save a lot of time and effort. We can expect more businesses to experiment with wearable technology. The future looks bright as ever!

 

This article has been brought to you by Senstone Inc. We specialise in wearable recorders powered by the AI – all to make your life easier. Check out our home page to learn more.

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Wearables in Healthcare: Becoming the New Normal

As technology improves, wearables in healthcare are becoming more and more popular. This is hardly surprising. From monitoring vitals around the clock to making the documentation process easier on practitioners, wearable technology affords some unique benefits.

 

Healthcare in Real Time

 

One of the main contributions wearables are currently making to healthcare is health monitoring. You no longer have to confine a person to the bed and hook them up to clunky machinery to get the necessary data.

 

  • heart rate
  • heart rhythm
  • blood oxygen saturation
  • breathing
  • sleep patterns
  • blood pressure
  • movement (walking, running, fall)

All these (and more) can be measured using a smart watch. Days, weeks, and months of statistical data help correctly assess the wearer’s health. And you don’t need to lend out expensive apparatus; watches are available at any tech store.

 

A frequently asked question about health wearables is whether they are accurate enough to be used for treating and diagnosing diseases. These doubts are still here because we remember all too well the first generations of wearable tech.

 

Luckily, things have gotten much, much better during the decade. Now doctors can rely on wearables for recording vitals, and there are even ECG watches approved by the FDA.

 

Wearables For the Doctor

 

A less obvious application of wearables in healthcare would be catering to the medical practitioners themselves.

 

Since the paperwork has been abandoned in lieu of electronic records (EHR), there is a lot of typing going on at the hospitals. Some information needs to be memorised before it can be recorded. For the doctors who use regular notebooks, their notes have to be transferred into the computer. According to a study, American doctors waste two-thirds of their time filling out forms.

 

Wearable recorders converting speech to text on the fly have emerged as the high-tech solution to the problem. 

 

Devices like Senstone Scripter allow physicians to record a patient’s data once – and transfer it between devices instantly while the AI makes sure there will be no spelling mistakes.

 

Although some smartphone apps can be used to a similar effect, wearables have the advantage of being hands-free. 

 

Their other strong point is the lack of intrusive notifications. You are free to concentrate on one task at a time and enter a state of deep focus. 

 

A wearable recorder has long battery life, too; a doctor doesn’t have to juggle texting, calls, and recording trying to make the phone last longer.



In conclusion, wearables and healthcare seem to have found each other. The former have improved to the point where a store-bought product can be used to reliably monitor health conditions. The latter has been successfully implementing wearable technology for years. Cardiology is the field most well-known for its application of wearables, but we can see other fields (like neurology) catching up to it already.

 

Stay productive!

 

This article has been brought to you by Senstone, a company working to make note-taking a seamless and effortless experience – anywhere, anytime. If you want to learn more, visit our home page or follow us on social media.

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How to Write a Biography (Using a Voice Recorder)

Biographies and autobiographies remain popular, and ‘how to write a biography’ is a surprisingly common search – along with people asking how to outline a book. Asking questions is important, especially when you’ve only just dipped your toes into the whole writing business.

 

While the ‘traditional’ approaches to writing are still going strong, these days we have some good alternatives which might suit you more than pen and paper (or hands and keyboard).

 

One of the alternative writing methods, in our opinion, is especially convenient for biography creators; using a voice recorder to capture and automatically transcribe your work.

 

Here is why we think you should definitely give it a shot.

 

It’s a Kind of Magic

 

Even if you’re wondering how to write a biography and not, say, an epic poem, you still have a lot in common with the ancients. The first biographies were composed in the form of tales to be recited; there was no way to record them. Even The Iliad in all its 15,600 lines glory spent at least five centuries as folk songs. Performers added and subtracted from it as they saw fit.

 

What we’re hinting at is the long-forgotten principle ready to make a return: it’s okay to create text without writing down a single word.

 

And unlike the Ancient Greek rhapsodes, you don’t have to memorise your book by heart.

 

Voice technology is one of the greatest opportunities for authors, especially if the idea is to publish a biography, and modern recorders are very much like a personal secretary. Scripter offers accuracy as high as 99% for English; a far cry from what we had to deal with just a decade ago.

 

The features we’re looking at:

  • automatic transcription, also known as speech-to-text
  • flexibility, i.e. the recording device has to be portable
  • automatic syntax (commas, paragraphs)
  • safe storage
  • synchronisation across devices

 

You are going to need:

  • a recording device (or a specialised app)
  • …and that’s it

 

Biographical Writing & Voice Tech: Made for Each Other

 

So how to write a biography in a way that would exploit all of the advantages offered by voice technology?

 

  1. If you’ve done your research, you don’t need to take peeks at the outline. There can be no surprises. The eagles are not going to swoop in and pick up your character from the peak of Mount Doom. You’re safe from plot holes. This means you can write (speak) in little chunks, bits and pieces. Start anywhere, compile later.

 

  1. Biographies and flowery prose live in different realms. When writing a biography, you can write more or less as you speak. Voice technology is perfect for capturing the natural flow of thought.

 

  1. You can write anywhere. The best ideas often have the worst timing possible. Take a walk – and write. Keep driving – and write. Lie in bed – and write. Pacing often helps us think – and of course voice-to-text lets you write while pacing.

 

To sum up, speaking to the imaginary reader is better than staring at the cursor. The illusion of communication gets your mind to speed up!

 

For writers, one of the best options on the market is Senstone Scripter (app and/or recording device). It’s tailored to assist content creators, doesn’t rely on the internet connection, and allows you to avoid the common distractions.

 

If you’d like to know more about Senstone Scripter and voice technology, visit our home page. Voice technology for lightning fast note taking is what we’re good at!

 

To browse our website for more articles like this one, check out our blog.

 

Good look with your writing!

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Here Is Why Speech Recognition Is the Future of Customer Service

As companies seek new ways to improve customer experience, it looks like speech recognition and customer service work great in tandem. While many voice technology solutions are still being explored, some of them have already made their way into call centers all over the world.

 

Speech Recognition: the What & the How

 

On the whole, speech recognition is the technology that allows a program to identify and “decipher” human speech.

 

The key difference from simply recording audio is that by processing your voice the computer “understands” what you’re saying. This is usually referred to as natural language processing (NLP). Complex algorithms process the audio, breaking it apart into words and phrases. They assess the context of every response and even the speaker’s emotions.

 

The data retrieved by processing speech can be used for many purposes.

 

Most commonly, speech is transcribed. Speech-to-text conversion allows for manual transcription. This is how you get voice typing (dictation), YouTube’s automatically generated subtitles, and audio translation.

 

Using voice commands to control software is the next logical step.

 

This is where customer service comes in.

 

Voicebots and You

 

Speech recognition in customer service as of 2022 works through “voicebots”.

 

Widely used by call centers, a voicebot is a piece of software that allows the customer to communicate with an interactive voice response (IVR) system.

 

You can still find older IVRs that don’t use voice recognition. Instead you are prompted to press 1, 2, or 3 to pick an option from the menu. On the other hand, the new conversational IVRs don’t require you to touch the phone at all.

 

A conversational IVR processes natural language and uses it as input. Based on whether the caller’s audio contains certain cues, the IVR can respond by providing information, asking questions, or performing actions.

 

Examples:

  • Contacting ISP to report internet connection issues. Before you get through to the human operator, IVR is going to ask you what happened. Then it’s going to suggest you first try to switch your router on and off or check the integrity of the cable.
  • Automating sales calls, phone surveys. As a business owner, you can utilize a voicebot to have it call a list of numbers and offer the product to those interested, addressing their questions and helping them complete the purchase.

As you can see, a voicebot can help your call center operators deal with the deluge of calls by filtering out simple requests that can be handled automatically. This enhances the customer experience by miles: the caller doesn’t have to form the queue waiting for an available operator to finally pick up the phone.

 

All in all, voicebots offer many perks, especially if you’re working to optimize and improve your customer service.

 

  • instant communication; voice recognition makes it easier for customer and business to connect right away, no time and effort wasted
  • reduced costs; with a good voicebot, call centers can hire fewer operators－or scale up
  • out-of-the-box, easily integrated solutions
  • automated troubleshooting; changing user info, providing information, and so on can be done without engaging company employees

As voice technology continues to improve and evolve, we can expect voicebots to grow more sophisticated. If things keep progressing at the current rate, soon voicebots are going to become indistinguishable from human custom service workers.

 

If you want to know more about voice technology, visit our homepage at senstone.io.