Sound and Sense

August 1997 / Eval / I Say! An Understanding Application / Sound and Sense

NaturallySpeaking converts voice input to a neutral pitch, eliminating the need for separate male/female files. A batch process compares spoken phonemes against its speaker-independent model, subtly adjusting d uration, weight, and pitch to optimize the acoustic match for your individual accent and pronunciation.
Given one word, the language model predicts the next, reducing the searching required for a particular match. For example, "Mister" is likely to be followed by a name. Beyond two-word pairs, entire phrases or sen tences are examined to determine the correct word in context. You can actually see the program "change its mind" as more information becomes available. NaturallySpeaking excels with complete sentences, producing as much as 95 percent accuracy after a day of steady use.

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Matthew Wilson
My approach to software engineering is far more pragmatic than it is theoretical--and no language better exemplifies this than C++.

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