speech @ microsoft : Speech Recognition

New top level MSDN node for Speech

robch — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:28:00 GMT

Check it out here! Now you can go to one location on MSDN to get any docs you need for your speech application needs...

Use Tellme Studio to create voice applications

robch — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Tobin Coziahr, from Tellme, has been kind enough to write a post describing how you can use the Tellme VoiceXML studio environment to build prototype voice applications. Thanks Tobin!

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Tellme, a Microsoft subsidiary, has a fully featured VoiceXML studio environment that allows anyone to learn how to make voice applications powered by the Tellme platform, for free.

Head over to the getting started section to hear examples of functioning voice applications, and try out the VoiceXML scratchpad, which allows you to write your own VXML, and then immediately call an access number and try it out. There’s a great code library for you to look at tutorials and sample code, as well.

There’s even a Visual Studio 2008 plugin that gives you a powerful GUI interface to design and develop voice applications using Microsoft’s Visual Studio Domain Specific Language toolkit.

Tobin Coziahr

Senior Software Design Engineer

Technical Preview of the Windows Speech Recognition Profile tool is now available for download!

robch — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:00:20 GMT

It's an exciting time here in Redmond, as we're finally ready to release the CTP (Client Technical Preview) of the Windows Speech Recognition Profile tool (WSRProfile for short). WSRProfile allows you to backup and restore your speech profile. It's fast, and it's easy. You can download WSRProfile here.

Be sure to download the release notes as they contain useful information as well as user instructions. Please note that this is a "technical preview" version and as such there are a few known issues with the tool.

As always, we welcome any and all feedback at listen@microsoft.com.

Microsoft sponsors the 2009-2010 AVIOS Speech Application Programming Contest

robch — Mon, 11 May 2009 17:49:28 GMT

As we have for the past 2 years, Microsoft is once again proud to announce our sponsorship of the 2009-2010 AVIOS Speech Application Programming Contest. Last year, winners of the contest received some pretty cool prizes from Microsoft, like copies of Visual Studio Professional, XBOX 360s, and Zunes... That's in addition to being flown out to San Diego for the Awards Ceremony at the Voice Search 2009 Conference. This year, Microsoft's offering similar prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize.

Do you have what it takes to win the 2009-2010 Contest? If you think you do, check out the official rules and how to use Microsoft Speech offerings here.

Windows Speech Recognition Macros is now available!!

robch — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:12:00 GMT

I'm very pleased to announce that first Technical Preview of Windows Speech Recognition Macros is now available for immediate download on downloads.microsoft.com.

The Windows Speech Recognition Macros tool (aka WSRMacros) extends the usefulness of the speech recognition capabilities already included in Windows Vista. Users can now create powerful macros that are triggered by spoken commands. These macros can perform a single task, or a series of tasks. Macros can be as simple as inserting your mailing address to as complex as providing a completely different speech interaction utilizing a number of built in capabilities or utilizing custom JScript/VBScript actions.

You can read more about WSRMacros in the the release notes here.

Stay tuned to the following blogs for more information on how you can best utilize the full power of Windows Speech Recognition Macros:

Additionally, we'd love to hear from you about what you like and what you don't like about WSRMacros. Please send us email at listen@microsoft.com and let us know what you think. We won't be able to answer all the emails that we receive, but we'll do our best to use your questions and comments to make WSRMacros better over the coming months.

NOTE: While we have tried to make it easy to use, this release of WSRMacros is a technical preview of technology we are planning to release in the future. Not all of the features we have planned are included, and some features are incomplete. Users are cautioned to treat this release as “pre-beta.”

Where does dictation work in Windows Speech Recognition?

Eric Brown — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:49:00 GMT

I get a lot of questions about dictation in Windows Speech Recognition for Vista. One of the most frequent questions is why dictation doesn't work in a particular application. The short answer is that dictation relies on a technology called Text Services Framework to interact with applications. If the application doesn't support it, then dictation doesn't work well. There is a very basic form of dictation support that can be activated when you check 'Enable Dictation Everywhere' in the Options submenu of the speech recognition context menu (right-click on the speech recognition UI).

What applications support Text Services Framework? Well, I know that the following applications definitely support Text Services Framework:

Microsoft Word 2003, 2007 (possibly XP; I haven't tried it)
Wordpad
Notepad
Microsoft Publisher 2003 and 2007 (I haven't used earlier versions)

I also know that the following applications do NOT support Text Services Framework:

Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Powerpoint
Microsoft Works
Microsoft Word 2000 and earlier

Dictation should work in any program that uses plain text controls or richedit controls, as well.