TTS, STT Go Virtual in New Prototype
SR Virtual, a Los Angeles-based provider of voice recognition-basedtechnologies for mobile handsets and the Internet, announced today theprototype for SendChat, a downloadable text messaging and Voice overInternet Protocol (VoIP) call application that uses proprietaryspeech-to-text and text-to-speech technology.
SendChat enables users to place free calls from their handhelds and dictate SMS messages. The application also features 411 voice activated services and translates voicemail to email or text. A free version is slated to go into Beta by September. The application uses SR Virtual’s Smart Technology, which tailors its recognition parameters to the users particular syntax and vernacular. This strengthens the speech recognition accuracy rates which, according to SR Virtual owner and partner Ray Galan, is at 97.8 percent with first use.
Users create an account, which serves as a reference and logs usage history for better translations within the system.
"With our voice recognition system, which will work to better translations with each individual user by recording and storing their voice patterns, a user will reach, we hope, 100 percent translation accuracy rate, which is the goal and idea behind our software," Galan writes in an email. "The more they use it, the better tool it becomes."
In recent months, many companies have announced developments for unified messaging and visual voicemail projects. SpinVox recently acquired $200 million in investor funding and Nuance announced the release of its Voicemail to Text service at the CTIA Wireless Show in Las Vegas. However, Galan believes that the market is wide open and emphasizes that SR Virtual’s software is different.
For instance, while companies like SpinVox and Simulscribe specialize in voice mail translations, SendChat also offers VoIP calls and plans to offer 411 and GPS services. Galan emphasizes that there will always be a free version of SendChat available—which other enterprises don’t offer.
He adds that Nuance’s solution incorporates software that needs to be installed on phones and carriers that can interface with Dragon NaturallySpeaking, whereas SendChat runs via the internet. "That means any phone, from any network, can run it. And allowing a user to send voice to text messages and VoIP calls not only will attract the mobile market, but the smartphone and pocketPC market as well," Galan says. "As long as a device has a WAP or Wi-Fi connection, Sendchat is available and ready. And, with an account, if you switch phones, Sendchat goes with you."