SVOX Adds Languages to Its TTS Technology

SVOX yesterday enhanced its text-to-speech offerings to include Japanese, bringing to 18 the number of languages its speech technologies support.

The addition of Japanese is the result of technical cooperation with Asahi Kasei, a multilingual speech recognition vendor in Japan.

Japanese language support is expected to provide a huge boost to the Japanese automotive industry, which has already taken a leadership position in the deployment of speech-enabled in-car navigation systems. Reportedly, half of all new cars in Japan are sold with integrated navigation systems.

The latest Japanese auto maker to leverage SVOX’s technology is Nissan’s Infiniti luxury car division. Infiniti on Monday announced that five models in its 2008 lineup will include embedded SVOX technology to provide drivers with enhanced convenience when using the navigation system, and that all its cars will include the technology by 2009.

"As traffic volumes continue to increase and car infotainment systems become more sophisticated, speech technology provides the most convenient interface with a car’s navigation system," explains Martin Reber, chief operating officer at SVOX. "The Infiniti navigation system includes one of the most comprehensive installations of voice features we have seen to date."

The SVOX language portfolio currently includes U.K. and U.S. English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Czech, Russian, Polish, North American Spanish, Canadian French, Chinese Mandarin, Korean, Danish, and Japanese. Cantonese and Norwegian will follow shortly.