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Nuance Launches Its First Modern Standard Arabic Text-to-Speech Voice

September 23rd, 2009 by Emerging Technologies

EMEA
Vanessa Richter
Nuance Communications International
+32-9-239 80 31
Email: vanessa.richter@nuance.com

Nuance VocalizerTM Voice Portfolio Now Features Arabic Male Voice Maged; Supports More Than 40 Languages Featuring 54 Different Voices

Belgium - GHENT, September 22, 2009 – Nuance Communications, Inc. today introduced its firstModern Standard Arabic voice for the recently launched Nuance Vocalizer 5 text-to-speech (TTS) family. The new male TTS voice, named Maged, is immediately available and enriches Nuance’s industry leading spoken output solutions.

The new male TTS voice Maged has been designed with a high-performance and compact linguistic module that addresses the problem of vowel restoration in Arabic in any context. As with other Nuance Vocalizer voices,Maged is a natural-sounding synthesized voice that can deliver any spoken output, and can be deployed in a number of applications and services, including automated customer service and turn-by-turn directions in most popular navigation devices. Nuance Vocalizer delivers enhanced accuracy and reliability by blending text-to-speech with pre-recorded audio for seamless conversations with the user, such as driving directions including precise street name announcement.

“The introduction of our first Arabic voice shows our commitment to delivering best-of-breed technology throughout the world, particularly the global mobile and the automotive industries that demand incredibly broad language support,” said Arnd Weil, general manager, Nuance Automotive. “By adding Maged, we are creating new opportunities for car manufactures in Arabic speaking countries where there is a critical demand for in-car systems communicating in the Arabic language.”

Nuance is constantly working to extend and update its text-to-speech portfolio to meet the localized needs of a global audience. Nuance currently offers Vocalizer spoken output solutions for more than 40 languages featuring 54 different voices, including not only the North American and Western European languages, but also Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech, Polish, Russian and Turkish, as well as a broad Asian language portfolio including Hindi, Indian English, Australian English, Indonesian, Thai, Chinese, Cantonese, Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean. For more information and to sample Nuance’s full portfolio of TTS languages and voices, please visit www.nuance.com

About Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance is the leading supplier of speech and imaging solutions for business and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications, and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share, and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

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Increasing Productivity with Speech Recognition Softwares

March 29th, 2009 by Emerging Technologies

At one time, the concept of speech recognition software existed almost exclusively in the world of science-fiction films. Remember the classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey? This was probably the film that first popularized the concept of talking to a computer. When people first viewed this film, they look at speech recognition programs as pure fantasy. Today, they are a reality and can be used with your home and office computer.

There are two forms of speech recognition software. The first is text to speech and it involves highlighted text that is then “read” out loud over the computer’s speakers. The second version is speech to text, which is also commonly referred to as dictation software. This type of speech recognition program listens to a person’s dictation and then types it out on a word processing program. Only a few short years ago, these very helpful programs were quite expensive. Today, their prices have come down significantly and they are much more accessible for personal and business use.

There are a number of “unintended” benefits that using speech recognition software provides. One of these benefits is reducing the tension and stress that is commonly placed on the wrist and finger joints when typing for extended hours. Those who suffer from the very painful condition of carpal tunnel syndrome will attest to the discomfort that such pain can cause. In the past, there was no way to reduce such stress because their profession required significant amounts of typing. With the advent of Speech to Text and Text to Speech programs, the ability to perform the same amount of work with less physical exertion is possible.

Actual, the phrase “same amount of work” may not be an accurate one. The use of speech recognition software can lead to a significant increase in productivity. Quickly dictating into a speech to text program can lead prove to be much quicker than typing out lengthy documents or reports by hand. Also, the text to speech program can greatly enhance the ability to multitask. Rather than sitting and reading a webpage or document on a computer, the speech recognition program can read it to you while you are working on something else at the same time. For those who never seem to have enough time in the day, both text to speech and speech to text can help you get more work accomplished.

Some may wonder if these speech recognition programs are user friendly. The answer is yes as long as you properly install the programs and follow the necessary steps to acclimate the program to your voice. The programs offer an option to dictate a pre-written script that the program will use to determine you pattern of speech and pronunciation. Once completed, the speech recognition program will understand the way to talk and this will reduce dictation errors. In terms of the text to speech program, you will have the option of altering the program’s voice. This way, you can make the program clearer and easier to understand.

Yes, speech recognition programs have arrived and they have the potential to forever alter the way you interact with your computer. Yes, the space odyssey has now moved to the earth.

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