What is Speech Recognition? How Speech Recognition works

Speech recognition has become an important technology in today’s digital age, supporting many fields from automation to user experience. Not only does it help with quick data entry, this technology also opens up many applications in daily life. So, what is speech recognition and what benefits does it bring to us? Let’s explore with FPT.AI how this technology works and its typical applications in practice.

What is Speech Recognition?

Speech Recognition is a technology that allows computers or electronic devices to understand and convert the sounds of speech into text or commands. Through this process, audio signal processing algorithms analyze the sounds emitted from the voice to identify and recognize the words and sentences that the speaker has spoken. Speech recognition technology not only enhances user experience in applications like virtual assistants but also plays an important role in many fields like education, healthcare and automation.

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Distinguishing Speech Recognition and Voice Recognition

For example:

• Speech recognition: When you use a Speech Recognition software to take notes, the technology converts your speech into text, making it easy to store the information.
• Voice recognition: In a banking application, when you say your password, Voice Recognition system recognizes your voice to authenticate your identity before allowing access to your account.

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How does Speech recognition work?

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology has become an important part of modern life, allowing us to interact with devices through our voices. The way this system works involves four main steps:

• Recording audio input: The speech recognition process begins when the recording device captures audio input from the surrounding environment. When a person speaks, the sound waves produced are recorded by the microphone. This sound will include many factors such as loudness, frequency and tone, forming an audio waveform for further processing.
• Digitizing the audio signal: After recording, the next step is to convert the audio signal into digital form. This process uses analytical techniques to turn the sound into a spectrogram – a visual graph that shows the intensity of frequencies over time. This spectrogram allows the speech recognition system to analyze the audio characteristics needed to identify the pronunciation.
• Phoneme Analysis: In this step, the system identifies and analyzes phonemes, which are the basic units of sound that make up words. For example, the word “cat” is made up of three phonemes: /k/, /æ/, and /t/. The system divides the spectrum into smaller parts to detect and classify these phonemes based on acoustic characteristics such as frequency, timing, and intensity.
• Phoneme-to-text conversion: Finally, the system uses natural language processing (NLP) algorithms to convert phoneme sequences into meaningful words and sentences. This process goes beyond simply piecing together phonemes, but also involves understanding the context and meaning of the words to ensure that the generated text accurately reflects what was said.

Use Cases for Speech Recognition

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology saves time and improves user experience. Here are some of the prominent applications of this technology in real life.

• Navigation systems: Navigation systems like Google Maps allow drivers to use voice commands to find their way without having to look at the screen. This allows drivers to focus more on driving, thereby increasing safety on the road.
• Virtual assistants: Virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa and Apple Siri use ASR technology to understand and execute user commands. You can ask the assistant to search for information, set reminders, or control smart devices in your home with just your voice.
• Language translation: Speech recognition technology also plays an important role in language translation applications like Google Translate. When a user speaks into a microphone, ASR converts the speech into text, then translates the text into another language and finally plays it back with voice, making it easier for users to communicate and overcome language barriers.
• Education: In the education field, applications like Duolingo help learners improve their language skills through pronunciation practice. The speech recognition system will evaluate the accuracy of pronunciation compared to the standard sample, thereby helping learners improve their speaking ability.
• Court transcripts: ASR is also applied in court transcripts. Instead of using typewriters or shorthand, court reporters can record the hearing and then use speech recognition technology to convert the audio into text. This not only saves time but also reduces errors in the transcription process.

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The most popular applications of voice recognition technology

Voice recognition software has become an indispensable part of modern life, bringing convenience and high efficiency in many fields. Below are the three most popular applications of this technology.

Easy voice typing with Gboard (Google Keyboard)

Gboard is a virtual keyboard application from Google, which not only provides traditional text typing but also possesses a modern Voice Typing feature, allowing users to enter content quickly and conveniently. First released in May 2016, Gboard is now available on both iOS and Android operating systems, with more than 5 billion downloads on Google Play.

Gboard’s Voice Typing feature helps users save time and effort when composing text, just tap the microphone icon on the keyboard and say what they want to type. Gboard automatically converts audio to text and has the ability to automatically add punctuation, helping to form complete sentences without additional operations.

The voice input feature on Gboard is convenient and time-saving, especially when you need to enter a large amount of text or when you cannot use your hands, such as when driving. However, this feature has some limitations such as lack of accuracy, especially in noisy environments or when speaking quickly. In addition to requiring a stable internet connection to operate effectively, not all languages ​​are well supported in this feature.

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Developing Text to Speech technology with FPT.AI

FPT.AI’s FPT AI Engage virtual assistant is a solution that applies Text to Speech technology developed by FPT Smart Cloud on the advanced artificial intelligence platform FPT.AI. Key features of FPT AI Engage include:

• Call Treatment: Allows AI virtual assistants to automatically set up callback rules based on call results, improving call-to-call rates and enhancing customer satisfaction.
• Do-Not-Call: Users can automatically remove phone numbers on the Department of Information Security’s advertising rejection list, creating comfort for customers.
• Option Mining: Helps bots analyze users’ nuances and opinions about products and services, thereby providing accurate and quick responses.
• Text To Speech: Converts text to speech and creates automated calls with distinctive voices for each brand and industry.

Home Credit Vietnam has deployed FPT AI Engage virtual assistant to make about 2,000,000 automatic payment reminder calls per month during the social distancing period due to Covid-19. Each call lasts from 1-2 minutes with a success rate of 98%.

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Google Docs’ Speech Recognition Weapon – Voice Typing

Google Voice, with the power of artificial intelligence, has created an advanced solution for converting voice to text. Currently, this service supports more than 40 languages ​​and is most effectively integrated into Google Docs. One of the most outstanding features of Google Docs is Voice Typing, which helps users enter data without typing.

The voice typing feature on Google Docs Voice Typing not only helps users save time but also improves work efficiency and user experience. Here are some outstanding benefits that this feature brings:

• Save time: Voice typing is much faster than typing, helping users complete work more efficiently.
• Reduce stress: Reduce fatigue caused by continuous typing, especially for those who work a lot with text.
• Increased mobility: Users can type while on the go or while busy with other tasks.
• Accessibility for people with disabilities: Especially useful for people who have difficulty using a keyboard due to a disability or medical condition.

In short, Speech Recognition and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology are technological breakthroughs, opening up many new opportunities in the interaction between humans and machines. In Vietnam, FPT.AI is a pioneer, providing speech recognition and AI solutions to help businesses automate processes and increase work efficiency. To experience the best machine voices on the market today, along with reasonable prices, please contact FPT.AI immediately via the information below:

• Address: FPT Building, 10 Pham Van Bach, Dich Vong Ward, Cau Giay District
• Hotline: 1900 638 399

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