Chatting Up the Machine
Using Speech Recognition in Daily Life
Speech recognition technology has definitely entered the mainstream. For example, major airlines let you book flights or check travel schedules by simply talking into the phone. Or you can check traffic conditions while driving by dictating commands to your mobile phone. You can even tell your computer what you want to type and how to format it.
So what does this mean for consumers? Perhaps we will all be speaking to our appliances, cars and PDAs in a few years. According to an eMarketer study, worldwide revenues for speech recognition systems are expected to grow from under $1 billion in 2003 to $5.3 billion in 2008.* Though traditionalists may scoff at the rise of speech recognition in all aspects of our daily encounters, it's hard to deny the time savings that it provides.
Full Immersion with Voice
For gamers, adding voice is a whole new frontier. Talking live to your teammates and opponents makes the game all the more real—;and you all the more a part of it. Plantronics® headsets also make you feel like you're part of the action, with digitally enhanced full stereo sound. Imagine hearing the footsteps of your enemy creeping up behind you, only to whisper to your buddy that you need help…now. Playing online will never be the same again without the voice component.
Plantronics offers a variety of headset options for gamers. For Xbox® Live players, there's no substitute for the GameCom® Halo 2 Edition headset. For Counter-Strike and the like, there's the DSP-500 headset, which provides surround sound and dynamic bass.
PC Chatter
The latest extension of this technology is the use of softphones. VoIP has created a whole new way to speak voice-to-voice with another person—;through a PC. All you need is a broadband connection, the appropriate software and a subscription to a service, and you can be chatting with your aunt in Brazil or your brother in Nepal. Headsets are an integral part of the rise in VoIP, making it easier to check in live via your computer.
Plantronics offers a number of headsets for softphone users, including the .Audio™ 70 headset, which is designed to make the most of your VoIP communications with the new version of Yahoo! Messenger. The CS50™ USB wireless office headset system allows you to use your softphone application without wires—;you can even walk up to 200 feet away from your PC and still keep talking.
Speech recognition is not a technology that is likely to disappear, and the applications for it are multiplying quickly. So if you're not already accustomed to talking to non-human devices, it's something you'll learn to appreciate.
*Source: eMarketer database, based on an Allied Business Intelligence survey, April 2003.
