All the Cool Developers use Speech APIs : Windows Speech Recognition

Our Users Are Leading Authorities

Charles Oppermann — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:26:53 GMT

Throughout my career at Microsoft, I've eagerly participated in mailing lists, newsgroups, and web forums to engage customers and learn more about their needs and foster direct communication.

One of the better forums for speech recognition is run by Professor Itamar Even-Zohar of Tel Aviv University, where he teaches Culture Research. Itamar has been a long time user of speech recognition and vocal in feedback regarding Windows Speech Recognition. His web site on speech recognition contains useful information on WSR and speech recognition included in Office XP and Office 2003. In particular, his ms-speech forum is invaluable.

Recently when David Pogue of the New York Times wrote about the newest version of NaturallySpeaking, Itamar was quick to write David and set him straight on a few matters, including a plug about Windows Speech Recognition Macros!

David wrote of Itamar, "Clearly, I’ve unearthed the world’s leading authority on speech-recognition foreign-language versions,"

If you read the links I'm providing, you'll see that Professor Even-Zohar is not enamored of all that we do. He's critical of several aspects of WSR and while he "gets it" regarding WSR Macros, he's quick to point out flaws and features.

It's users like this that we need more of; people who are highly experienced and unafraid to share their opinions. The information provided is valuable to me and the rest of the product teams. On the flip side, we have to be careful regarding users expectations. Bending our ear doesn't mean you'll get whatever feature you asked for, and within a particular timeframe.

Oftentimes we'll have more features than time or people available. We have to be very choosy about where to spend our resources. Even things that are a number #1 priority sometimes have to take a backseat to a lesser feature because it was one that we could do in the time or resources available.

Having the feedback from experienced users though help us make the most of the resources we have. We can prioritize better and have confidence that what we're doing will have the greatest impact.

To everyone who writes us at listen, speak and sapitech - we thank you and keep the feedback rolling!

WSR Accuracy Survey

Charles Oppermann — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:14:23 GMT

We're always looking for feedback on how to improve Windows Speech Recognition. If you are a frequent user, please take a moment to respond with your experiences. You can email us, or leave a comment below.

What mode of microphone control do you use most often?
1. I use “start listening” and “stop listening”
2. I press CTRL+WIN to change listening modes
3. I use my headset/microphone mute button
If you use “start listening” (or have in the past), how reliable is it for your environment?
1. Very reliable: WSR only listens when I say “start listening”
2. Somewhat reliable: WSR occasionally wakes up even if I did not say, “start listening”, but it’s not a problem for me.
3. Not reliable: I cannot use the Sleep mode because “start listening” is recognized too frequently.
Were you aware that pressing CTRL+WIN was a possible means of controlling the listening state?
1. No
2. Yes
When you add words to the speech dictionary, do you also record a pronunciation?
1. Yes, always
2. Sometimes
3. Only if after adding the word WSR still does not recognize it correctly
4. What’s the speech dictionary?
Do you find that while correcting misrecognized phrases, that WSR still misrecognizes the phrase, even after one or more corrections?
1. Always
2. Frequently
3. Enough that I notice
4. Occasionally
5. Rarely
What is your favorite feature or aspect of Windows Speech Recognition?
Conversely, what is the one thing you’d like to change?

Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback! We do value your feedback and use it to help guide future development.

Every single thing Windows Vista Speech Recognition is listening for

Charles Oppermann — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 06:05:27 GMT

Rob Chambers is passionate about speech and a prolific blogger. Something that I've always wanted was a list of all the commands that Windows Speech Recognition recognizes. I knew I could probably scan through the internal grammars that WSR uses, but what I didn't know was that Rob had already posted such a list nearly a year ago.

One command that surprised me was "move speech recognition to the bottom" (or "top"). Sometimes the UI panel at the top of screen gets in the way. I knew I could click the Minimize button, but that would not be an option for everyone trying to use their computer hands-free.

Link to Rob's Rhapsody : Every single thing Windows Vista Speech Recognition is listening for

Windows Speech Recognition Getting Some Respect

Charles Oppermann — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 18:46:28 GMT

When our new speech recognition for Windows Vista was demonstrated at the Microsoft Financial Analyst Meeting this past August, it went disastrously (read about it at my personal blog, along with links to the video).

As I said in that posting, I was angry at first because the high-profile failure didn't need to happen (Larry Osterman explains the technical details). But at the same time, I know our technology was good, and as a side benefit, the fallout from the demo would give WSR more recognition.

Now that Windows Vista is getting more attention in the mainstream technology press, people are trying out WSR and discovering that it works pretty well. Here's what Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg had to say:

"I’ve been using the integrated speech recognition in Windows Vista for the last few days, for a variety of tasks and in a variety of applications. I’m pleased to say it works well, and greatly improves the usability of my computer for entering text. It’s so darn good, it feels a little bit out of science fiction. But then again, isn’t that the way technology is supposed to work?"

Thanks to Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog over at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for pointing this out.