Hi, I am a jsp, java programmer and the voice xml giveaway caught my eye. I have briefly had a look at the voicexml.org site, but have not yet had the time to spend on it. I just have a couple of questions which will give me a better idea if it is what I think it is, and if voicexml can be used for what I want to use it for: 1. It appears that voiceXml is primarily used for speech recognition. is this correct? Or is it used for producing speech? or both 2. Is it language based, in terms of human languages I mean. i.e. Can it be used to create speech recognition and text-to-speech in languages other than English. Like Zulu (for example). Or is this entirely dependant on the speech software using the Xml? Basically, here in Africa the great 'digital divide' is so big it doesn't seem bridgable(?). One of the major problems facing disadvantaged communities here when it comes to technology (besides lack of electricity I mean) is illeteracy. Many millions cannot read or write, many cannot speak english. Is VoiceXml worth investigating as part of a solution to this, I guess is basically my question, with the idea of creating speech recognition and text-to-speech software that can be used here in the third world? Thanks Joel
Hema Menon
Ranch Hand
Joined: Oct 29, 2000
Posts: 569
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Joel, VoiceXML is neither for producing speech nor used for speech recognition. VoiceXML is an XML based language used to develop telephony applications. You can have speech recognition as a part of the voicexml applications. You need speech recognition system to enable this. VoiceXML 1.0 specifications can have a <dtmf> tag to take telephone inputs from the key pad of a telephone. Or you could have grammar specified for speech recognition or both. VoiceXML is XML format with a specific DTD for validation. VoiceXML has <prompt> tags which can be used by text to speech engines to provide prompts to the user. Speech and Text to speech are an important part of VoiceXML. HTH Hema
~hm
Xiaofei-Jeff Tang
Greenhorn
Joined: Aug 12, 2001
Posts: 19
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Hi Joel, That's a very interesting idea. VoiceXML basically relies on, rather than uses, automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text-to-speech (TTS) technologies. The leading vendors of ASR and TTS engines all support many languages, e.g. Nuance supports the following languages: Cantonese Czech Dutch English.America English.AusNZ English.Singapore English.SouthAfrica English.UK French French.Canada German Greek Italian Japanese Mandarin Norwegian Portuguese.Brazil Spanish Spanish.America Swedish Turkish And Speechworks TTS engine supports: US English UK English Castilian Spanish Mexican Spanish Canadian French Standard French German Italian Finnish Brazilian Portuguese Mandarin Chinese Japanese Korean VoiceXML just speeds up the development of traditional DTMF-based telephony application and/or the new ASR and TTS based voice applications. So my opinion is yes, if you find some ASR/TTS vendors who can support the language of your interest, and if the overall cost of developing such a service makes sense, then VoiceXML can shorten the time thus save money to build such a service to serve the people there. Regards, Jeff
Originally posted by Joel Carklin: Hi, I am a jsp, java programmer and the voice xml giveaway caught my eye. I have briefly had a look at the voicexml.org site, but have not yet had the time to spend on it. I just have a couple of questions which will give me a better idea if it is what I think it is, and if voicexml can be used for what I want to use it for: 1. It appears that voiceXml is primarily used for speech recognition. is this correct? Or is it used for producing speech? or both 2. Is it language based, in terms of human languages I mean. i.e. Can it be used to create speech recognition and text-to-speech in languages other than English. Like Zulu (for example). Or is this entirely dependant on the speech software using the Xml? Basically, here in Africa the great 'digital divide' is so big it doesn't seem bridgable(?). One of the major problems facing disadvantaged communities here when it comes to technology (besides lack of electricity I mean) is illeteracy. Many millions cannot read or write, many cannot speak english. Is VoiceXml worth investigating as part of a solution to this, I guess is basically my question, with the idea of creating speech recognition and text-to-speech software that can be used here in the third world? Thanks Joel
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