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How Does Voice Recognition Technology Actually Work?

Bobby Gill | May 3, 2018

Voice recognition technology is useful for many different reasons. It allows drivers to focus on the road while performing tasks like adjusting the air conditioning or changing the channel on the radio. Voice recognition software is the reason we have products that can serve as virtual assistants, helping us schedule appointments, look up information, make phone calls, and more. It even improves patient care by allowing doctors to work more efficiently.

It’s evident that voice recognition software is revolutionizing our lives in ways both big and small. It’s also clear that as voice development continues to improve, its list of potential applications will only grow.

What may not be clear, however, is just how voice recognition technology works. It’s easy to take for granted, but when you truly consider how impressive these tools are, it begs the question: How can a machine have a conversation with you?

What Makes Voice Recognition Software Work?

A product that relies on voice recognition technology isn’t very useful if you need to constantly program it to understand phrases, recognize appropriate voices, and correctly interpret what you mean if a request is unclear.

That’s why voice development specialists strive to create programs that can learn language the same way a child does. Although children don’t start speaking immediately, as they’re exposed to words, phrases, and voices, they develop the ability to understand speech. Eventually, they learn to speak, too.

The Development Process for Voice Technology

To achieve the functionality expected of voice recognition software, many developers choose to leverage technologies like machine learning when creating voice-based products.

As the name implies, machine learning allows an artificial intelligence to learn from past experiences and make predictions or judgments about the future. This technology most likely already plays a role in your everyday life. For example, when Netflix or Amazon recommends a show or product you might like, they use machine learning to make appropriate suggestions based on your user history.

The same principle applies to voice recognition technology. The system’s capabilities develop every single time it’s exposed to language and speech. The difference lies in the difficulty of the task.

The Challenges of Voice Recognition Technology Adoption

It’s not much of a challenge for a program to evaluate your purchase history and recommend similar products. Learning to speak realistically while offering these advantages, however, involves adjusting to different dialects, slang, phrases, speech patterns, vocal quality and, of course, the many different languages of the world.

Luckily, it seems like voice development is now capable of doing so. Google’s voice recognition software already understands human speech with 95% accuracy. Additionally, the advantages of Alexa voice skill development and similar technologies have already proven valuable to consumers and organizations alike.

These programs are likely to improve as more and more people use them. Again, voice recognition software learns from past experiences. That means they become more effective and accurate when they have more experiences with language. Consumers will benefit in many ways, while businesses can take advantage of voice development by creating voice-based products their customers will love.

Bobby Gill
Co-Founder & Chief Architect at BlueLabel | + posts

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