Whither speech technology? - a twenty-first century perspective

Abstract

Speech-technology research lies at an historic juncture. Commercialization of the technology is likely to accelerate dramatically over the coming decade, but its scientific foundation remains uncertain. A critical shortage of qualified speech scientists and engineers looms in the absence of well-funded, challenging programs for training speech technologists and timely intervention by universities, government agencies and speech-technology companies. The speech-technology industry should collaborate closely with academic and government partners to insure an orderly expansion of academic training and research facilities required to accommodate the inevitable surge in demand for spoken-language technology. In the absence of significant academic-industry-government collaboration the pace of scientific innovation in speech research is likely to slow dramatically.

From here to utility - melding phonetic insight with speech technology

“…For speech is destined to serve as a technological linchpin of the twenty-first economy by virtue of its ability to facilitate and automate communication between humans and machines (cf. [17]). Under such circumstances a unique opportunity arises for a synergistic relationship between the science and technology of spoken language.…”

“…And imperfect science is indeed capable of providing an effective foundation for technology -as long as the demands of the market place are not exceedingly stringent. However, as commercial expectations of the technology increase, immature science is unlikely to suffice as the empirical and theoretical foundation of future-generation applications [17].…”