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Open Source Speech Recognition

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the hello-computer dept.

bedahr writes "The first version of the open source speech recognition suite simon was released. It uses the Julius large vocabulary continuous speech recognition to do the actual recognition and the HTK toolkit to maintain the language model. These components are united under an easy-to-use graphical user interface. Simon can import dictionaries directly from wiktionary (a subproject of wikipedia) or from files formated in the HADIFIX- or HTK format and grammar structures directly from personal texts. It also provides means to train the language model with new samples and add new words."

10 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Re:been playing with it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You might want to do what they do in Star Treck and put a word infront of every command. Something like "Computer: Lights off" will reduce the chance that some random sentences from the TV will trigger the command. Unless you're watching Star Treck ofcourse.

  2. Are they productive? by bogaboga · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In my experience, I have not found speech recognition engines/software that productive. Too many errors and a slow [and steep] "learning" curve for the engine. I will have to be convinced that this simon thing is any different for me to give it a spin.

    1. Re:Are they productive? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No doubt you're correct, but it's got to be a boost for anybody who cannot type effectively.

    2. Re:Are they productive? by Yvanhoe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I doubt that speech recognition is ready to be used as an alternative to keyboards to type text, but I think it can become, after the keyboard and the mouse, a third input device that would boost the productivity of a computer user.

      --
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    3. Re:Are they productive? by Instine · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nearly five years ago I used to help a guy who had no useful movement in his limbs. He could use a mouth stick to type and control the cursor. However he also used Dragon Dictate. His machine was old 7 years ago, and here's the amazing bit (to me at least) his speech was pretty garbled from his condition. Most humans found it very hard understanding him, yet the dictation software did a pretty good job. He wrote an entire screen play (later comitioned by the BBC) and was a lawyer with his own practice (it may sound like it but I'm not making this up). His success with this tech was probably what got me into assitive tech (now my job).

      So depends who you are on how much it improves you productivity.

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    4. Re:Are they productive? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      In my experience, it mostly comes down to the quality of the microphone /sound input these days, with modern speech recognition software. Computer mics are atrocious. I got a high-end sound card (just an old but good emu10k1-based SB), a decent studio mike (Studio Projects) and a mic pre-amp, used the line-in input on the card, and get very, very good results. Of course, I paid more for my audio setup alone than many people pay for their PCs these days, especially after the noise-reduced fans, psu and case for the PC itself. I think it was worth it though. (Posting anonymously because I'm not trying to boast or something; just saying if you want decent computer audio, you still have to pay a bit more (in my case, a bit under EUR1K on the audio side)

  3. Which languages are supported? by r_jensen11 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's great and all, but which languages are supported? I hope it's more than just English

  4. Open Source? by kylegordon · · Score: 1, Insightful

    If this is the first, what was Sphinx then?

  5. Whither Microsoft? by IGnatius+T+Foobar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Offices full of people talking to their computers has been Bill Gates' wet dream for decades now. What will happen if open source gets there first?

    Actually, the reason we're not there yet is because most people don't want it. Keyboards and mice are simply a better way to give instructions to your computer than speech recognition is. Could you imagine the clatter of a dozen or more people in close proximity chattering to their computers?

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  6. Re:Open Source, or Microsoft-Owned? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    And after all, it isn't that big of a deal, is it?
    That's a dangerous road for a free software project to take. Think of bitkeeper.