They did demo it at CeBit in Germany, according to this release... however, it was on the second read-through that I saw the words demonstration aimed at showing potential future applications of integrated speech and language technologies, so I guess they might still be working on it...
Business Wire - March 17, 1999 17:52
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HANOVER, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 17, 1999--
Unveils New German Language Software Offerings; Demonstrates Multilingual Chat Using Integrated Translation and Dictation
Lernout & Hauspie (NASDAQ:LHSPF)(EASDAQ:LHSP) (L&H(tm)), a worldwide market leader in speech and linguistic technologies, products and services, made a number of announcements here at the CeBIT '99 tradeshow that underscore the company's strength in combining speech and language technologies to create multilingual solutions. Included in its announcements at CeBIT, in Hall 6, Booth H33, are a German language version of L&H RealSpeak(tm) text-to-speech technology; a variety of enhancements to its U.S. English and German language versions of L&H Voice Xpress(tm) software; and a number of contracts for development of telephony applications. The company showcased a groundbreaking multilingual chat application that integrates dictation and translation capability for the Internet.
L&H's announcements at CeBIT illustrate how the company has successfully combined its expertise in speech and language technologies to lead the market in meeting the demand for multilingual speech-enabled solutions for global use. For example, in a demonstration aimed at showing potential future applications of integrated speech and language technologies, L&H showed how users with different native languages can communicate over the Internet, and have their voice translated instantly into a foreign language. The product enhancements and contracts announced at CeBIT demonstrate the growing demand for L&H's speech applications in multiple languages, specifically in the telephony and vertical markets.
"By combining language and speech technologies we can overcome cultural and language barriers and bring the many benefits of speech, such as increased productivity and ease of use, to businesses and consumers throughout the world," said Gaston Bastiaens, president and CEO of L&H. "L&H is in the unique position of offering the industry's widest variety of both speech and language offerings based on its leading natural language technology."
L&H RealSpeak, The Most Natural Sounding TTS
While at CeBIT, L&H also announced and demonstrated a German language version of L&H RealSpeak, its breakthrough, natural sounding TTS. The L&H RealSpeak engine can read aloud names and digits with a human sounding voice, providing voice quality and intelligibility that is expected to set a new industry standard in TTS. The company expects that the engine's concatenative approach to speech synthesis and its patent-pending synthesis algorithm will help overcome users' common objections to the "robotic" sounding synthesized voices produced by most TTS engines.
Telephony Contracts Announced
While at CeBIT, L&H announced contracts with Alcatel and Aculab for the development of telephony applications that employ L&H's automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text to speech (TTS) engines. These contracts build upon the rapid inroads the company has made in the growing telephony market, underscore the popularity of its technologies among developers, and demonstrates the use of L&H speech and language combined in telephony applications.
Alcatel has licensed L&H's ASR and TTS to voice-enable the new version of its Universal Call Processing System. The system provides the building blocks for development of automated attendants, audiotex, interactive voice response and call center applications. In addition, the system offers functions such as FAX-on-demand, Speaker Independent Voice Recognition and Text-to-speech conversion. Alcatel is a world leader in telecommunications systems and equipment as well as related cables and components activities.
Aculab has licensed L&H's TTS and ASR engines for integration into their award winning Prosody PCI speech resource board which provides DTMF detection and generation, playback and recording, conferencing, tone generation, echo cancellation and G3 Fax support. L&H's TTS technology allows any computer readable text to be converted into natural sounding speech in multiple languages. L&H's ASR technology automates the recognition of continuous natural speech, isolated and key words, continuous digits and the alphabet, all in multiple languages. Aculab is a leading manufacturer of open standards based digital connectivity products for the computer telephony community. The company is based in the UK with offices in the US, Germany and Australia.
Enhanced Dictation Offerings
L&H has also enhanced its German language version of L&H Voice Xpress(tm). The enhanced version includes improvements in the software's Natural Language Technology (NLT) capabilities, allowing it to support additional natural language commands in Microsoft(R) Excel. The product also features updated documentation, enhanced correction dialog and modified enrollment text. The German language version update of L&H Voice Xpress will be downloadable from the Web for free, beginning on March 18th at www.lhs.com/de/voicexpress/updates.
L&H also announced a technology breakthrough that is expected to substantially increase the accuracy and reduce enrollment time required for L&H Voice Xpress. As a result, in the future s of L&H Voice Xpress, approximately five minutes of speaker enrollment training will achieve the same accuracy levels that is obtained with 40-60 minutes of enrollment in the current versions of L&H's dictation products. The technology breakthroughs are the result of new L&H-proprietary speech recognition processes. L&H's future versions of L&H Voice Xpress will also include a number of other improvements to the enrollment user interface to help maximize accuracy and performance and reduce complexity.
Although the enrollment improvements made to future versions of L&H Voice Xpress will be processor independent, additional speed and accuracy improvements will benefit from the new Pentium III architecture.
Global Internet Communication
To further underscore its ability to integrate speech and language technologies in one solution, L&H demonstrated at CeBIT an example application that enables multilingual real-time communication over the Internet. The demonstration combines L&H Voice Xpress(tm) continuous speech recognition software, L&H machine translation software and L&H's speech synthesis software. Together, the technologies allow users to speak German into an Internet chat application, have their text translated, on the fly, and then read aloud in English to the recipient. The demonstration is two-way, showing how two people can "converse" in different languages in real-time using advanced speech and language software. The capability enhances productivity for users, such as employees of global companies, by not only eliminating language barriers in real time but also reducing the need to type. L&H expects to productize the capability later this year.
About Lernout & Hauspie
Lernout & Hauspie (L&H) is a global leader in advanced speech and language solutions for vertical markets, computers, automobiles, telecommunications, embedded products, consumer goods and the Internet. The company is making the speech user interface (SUI) the keystone of simple, convenient interaction between humans and technology, and is using advanced translation technology to break down language barriers. L&H's products and services originate in four basic areas: automatic speech recognition (ASR), text-to-speech (TTS), digital speech and music compression (SMC) and text-to-text (translation). For more information, please visit Lernout & Hauspie on the World Wide Web at www.lhs.com.
This Press Release contains forward-looking information, including statements regarding L&H's expectations and intentions concerning the development and commercialization activities of L&H, certain of its customers and the performance of their respective products and products under development. There can be no assurance that actual results will not be materially different than those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Factors which could cause actual results to materially differ from those anticipated include known and unknown risks, including without limitation, the uncertainty of new product development, including the risk that newly introduced products may contain undetected errors or defects or otherwise not perform as anticipated, the early stage of development of the speech and language technology markets, uncertainty of market growth, rapid technological change and intense competition, as well as other risks set forth in L&H's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. L&H cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. L&H expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in the L&H's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstance on which any such statement is based.
All product names and trademarks mentioned herein are trademarks of L&H or their respective owners.
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