How does the system work? |
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The system uses SpeechWorks' speech recognition software to take callers' requests and match them to a preset list of choices. Depending on what the caller wants, the system responds with either robotic text-to-speech synthesis (for e-mail) or concatenated human speech (for news, weather, and sports). If the caller gives an illogical response, the interface reestablishes control by asking to start over again at some prior successful point.
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How does AOLbyPhone change the life? |
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After years of lugging her laptop everywhere, Mary Moore was primed for a change. Moore, a 28-year-old freelance writer in New York City, didn't cart the machine around for taking notes; she carried it to check her e-mail frequently.
"I'm a single woman with a busy professional and social life," says Moore. "If I don't check my e-mail every few minutes, I might miss out on a plum assignment?or a dinner."
Now Moore travels much lighter. Through her e-mail provider, AOL, Moore recently signed up for AOLbyPhone, a voice portal service that retrieves e-mail, headline news, and other features and content, and reads them to her over any type of phone. AOL charges an additional $4.95 per month for the service, which uses both speech recognition and text-to-speech technologies.
Now the highest-tech tool Moore has to carry is her cell phone, which she'd have with her anyway. She dials a toll-free number, says her phone number and PIN, then navigates the menu with voice commands ("e-mail," "weather," and so on) and answers questions.
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What are the challenges? |
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The biggest problem so far, Moore says, is that the speech recognition software sometimes has trouble making out words in a noisy environment. While waiting to board a flight to Hawaii, for example, Moore tried to check the local weather. "Honolulu," she said loudly and clearly. "Ohio," a perky man's voice replied. "No," Moore said. "My mistake," the computer responded, sounding genuinely chagrined. "Let's try again," it suggested. "Hon-o-lu-lu," Moore bellowed. "I'm having trouble with this one," the voice explained.
At other times, the technology more than made up for its quirks. For example, Moore was on a layover in Miami and desperately needed information about local restaurants. After Moore listened to details about the top ten in the area, including locations and reviews, the service offered to connect her to one by phone.
"I just love the convenience," says Moore. She also enjoys how unintentionally entertaining the portal can be. "It's funny when it comes up with substitutions for curse words that dot some of my friends' e-mails? like fudge instead of the alternative. Or when a cheerful woman's voice reads me a message from a stern male editor."
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