Google is starting to put some distance between the Voice Search app for Android-based smartphones and the same application as it is offered on alternatives. The difference will be the ability of phones running Android version 2.2 to support a new way of building the models for recognizing their owners’ utterances. Rather than matching what they say to the huge database of spoken words from other Google Voice Search users, Google will begin collecting utterances in a new way, so they can be associated with a specific user. This will promote greater accuracy, which translates (so to speak) into a better ability to recognize proper names more quickly.
The service is described in greater detail in this blog post by Amir Mane the product manager along with Glen Shires from the Google Voice technical staff. Google has made personalized search into an “opt in” feature of the new Google Voice Search app. Recognizing that there is a fine line between personalization and invasion of privacy, it has taken a further step of providing a mechanism for the personalized voice profiles to be “disassociated” from information in your Google account (which, for many people could span Gmail, shared documents, contact lists and other sensitive information).
The app is available from the Android Market, making personalized voice search a few clicks away. The allusion to “improved name recognition and speed” is almost nostalgic. For many years, Amir Mane’s name was synonymous with automated Directory Assistance, an enclave of the speech processing and information processing world that long-ago began to tackle the challenges of rapid recognition and response to the most challenging utterances – names of cities, towns, streets and people.
Google is about to find out how many people expect to see sufficient benefits from Personalized Voice Search” to justify their decision to “opt-in.” My suspicion is that the numbers will be fairly small at first because people generally have to be given incentive (preferably financial, but often merely gratifying) to “opt-in” to just about anything. The promise of better speech rec may not fill the bill. Regardless of the percentage, Google has a large enough sample of subscribers to learn who takes the step into personalized Voice Search.
After overcoming the opt-in hurdle, Google will learn which of its users are sophisticated enough to go deep into the administrative layers of Google Voice to “disassociate” their voice profiles from the rest of their Google account. My suspicion is that the number will be pretty low. After all, people are sharing their location, their check-ins and other activity streams routinely. The idea that some “bad actor” might benefit from associating audio files (or the metafiles derived from them) with other publicly available information seems pretty remote. But I’m always surprised at what self-described privacy advocates decide to address as communications, search and transaction processing technologies move forward.
My suggestion: If you have an Android phone running version Froyo or above, it will be worthwhile to upgrade to Personalized Voice Search. As Amir’s post notes, the improvements will be subtle at first, but they will be beneficial. Thanks to advancements in microphone technologies (like putting multiple microphones on devices to identify and cancel out background noise), as well as acoustic modeling and filtering mobile devices are getting much better at supporting person-to-machine conversations. Personalized Search moves along a different vector to try to provide a more accurate way to recognize spoken commands or search terms consistently.
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Google Taking Voice Search To the Next Level of Personalization | Opus Research
Voice Biometrics: Tell It Like It Is | Voice Biometrics News & Events
Earlier this month a Cisco’s Alex Noble caused a stir when he published this blog post to discuss the fate of “voice biometrics security” in the wake of a decision by the UK Department of Work & Pensions to close several trial implementations of “voice risk analysis” (VRA). Perhaps it was a mistake by the headline writer, but for some reason, the term “voice risk analysis” and “voice biometrics” were used interchangeably. One is not synonymous with the other.
VRA, which in the case of the DWP was using a technology DigiLog UK was designed to serve as a “lie detector” or “stress test” which measured a set of pre-defined “emotional characteristics” of a caller’s utterances. The pilot program was designed to test whether these characteristics could be a reliable, consistent way to detect fraudsters. Apparently the answer was no.
But that finding has nothing to do with Voice Biometrics (VB) technologies and their potential to reliably and consistently serve as platforms for caller authentication, validation and ID proofing. In contrast to VRA, which is looking for specific tone changes in spoken utterances, VB captures and distills a voice print that reflects the shape and unique attributes of a person’s vocal tract as well as unique characteristics of “how” he or she speaks. It is a much broader behavioral biometric than mere tone change. VB can be foundational to applications that include caller authentication or verification, speaker identification, ID proofing, “voice signatures,” and many other applications.
As VoiceVault’s Nik Stanbridge points out in this blog post, “no voice biometrics were used at all” in the DWP implementation.
The situation for speech technologies may worsen as automated speech processing becomes “cool” again in support of search, dictation, command and control on mobile phones. Several closely related technologies are wending their way into the public consciousness simultaneously. Analysts, journalists, investors, customers and prospects – many of whom should know better – have a bad habit of conflating the disparate implementations of what is, at base, pattern recognition coupled with business logic and rules that define its application, deployment patterns and use cases.
For instance, while fielding calls from the trade press regarding Google’s new “Personalized Voice Search,” I needed to clarify the fact that “highly personalized speech recognition does not equate to speaker identification or authentication.” Indeed, once an application starts collecting utterances and associating them with a specific speaker, I can see how it could be confused with speaker identification.
The salient difference between VRA and VB is “intent” at the application or user interface layer. Google is collecting additional utterances and associating them with a specific user in order to promote more accurate speech recognition. It’s all part of the ultimate Star Trek crew person-to-machine conversational model. If anything, Google has designed an application that assumes “the right person” is in possession of his or her mobile phone, a presumption that a true VB-based authentication system could validate.
I’m glad that Google is moving toward more accurate recognition of utterances from specific users. I think any initiative to promote greater accuracy and reliability helps further acceptance and comfort of voice as a candidate for entering search terms, dictating messages and entering commands; especially on mobile devices. The unspoken (and sometimes spoken) question surrounding the ultimate success of voice biometrics is summed up as: “If a system can’t recognize what you say consistently, how do you expect to to recognize who you are with sufficient levels of confidence?”
While speech rec has vastly different challenges from speaker rec, they are inextricably linked in many people’s minds. In the wild, solutions blend or integrate these disparate technologies. Enrollment and authentication, for instance, relies on an IVR (interactive voice response) platform. That creates even more reason to be precise in our wording as we bring VB more prominently into the e-commerce and mobile commerce mainstream.
Canadian Voice ASP Acquires Diaphonics Assets; Pledges Aggressive Marketing in 2011 | Voice Biometrics News & Events
The ten year run of Diaphonics (and its successor firm SecureReset) as a leading provider of voice biometrics-based solutions has apparently come to an end, but its software will live on as part of Ivrnet Inc.’s portfolio. The Calgary-based Ivrnet is a hosted or managed services provider with a quarterly run rate of just over $1 million (Canadian) – up from about $600 thousand per quarter last year. Over the years it has developed and deployed a range of communications services, tools and applications, including voice biometric-based password reset.
In this press release, Ivrnet admits that it was able to acquire the software product “at minimal cost” thanks to the “collapse” of Diaphonics in the course of the global economic downturn. The press release also claims that Diaphonics had invested $12 million to develop its products – primarily for password reset – during its 10 years of operation.
Ivrnet has deployed a hosted version of Diaphonics software since 2009 on a limited basis, involving “the use of speaker recognition as a multi-factor authentication gateway and as a voice sample verifier.” The company plans to integrate this voice biometric authentication capability across its entire line of hosted voice services with “aggressive” marketing to start in March 2011.
The folks at Diaphonics, Andy Osborne and Jeremy Bernard, have been stalwarts in the voice biometrics business. They were among the original sponsors of Opus Research’s Voice Biometrics Conference in Washington, DC, in 2007. As a stand-alone company, they put great effort in product development and marketing but, as we are all learning, voice biometrics are better positioned as part of a larger portfolio of multi-factor and multi-modal solutions. We look forward to seeing Ivrnet’s system wide integration of its “authentication gateway” and will watch with interest for its amped up marketing efforts in the coming year.
Gary McKinnon's fate remains unclear after Home Secretary testimony (From Haringey Independent)
By Tristan Kirk »
MORE than 30 MPs and peers have signed a Christmas card supporting the plight of Enfield hacker Gary McKinnon.
The effort was made on the day Home Secretary Theresa May gave evidence to the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee which is looking into UK extradition laws, and has focused on Mr McKinnon's case.
His mother Janis Sharp and Enfield Southgate MP David Burrowes organised the card, to show support for his plight and to continue to put pressure on the government to block his extradition to the US.
Mr McKinnon is wanted on hacking charges after breaking into to US government systems in 2001 and 2002. He claims to have been looking for evidence of UFOs, but the American Government wants to prosecute him for causing hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage.
Mr Burrowes, who has long campaigned on Mr McKinnon's behalf, said: “The card simply wishes Gary peace this Christmas but recognises the profound concern that it is now nine years since Gary was arrested for allegations of computer hacking.
“I hope that the new year will bring justice for Gary and an end to the nightmare of his life being on the line during this protracted extradition process."
Ms May, when grilled by the committee, refused to be drawn on Mr McKinnon's case, which is currently on hold while she re-evaluates whether to allow extradition.
She did, however, revealed the computer hacker, who lives in Palmers Green, has been asked if he will consent to a psychiatric assessment, and the Home Secretary is currently awaiting a response.
Coalition leaders David Cameron and Nick Clegg both pledged during the General Election campaign to stop the 44-year-old from being sent to the US, but it remains unclear whether Ms May will uphold that promise.
http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/news/8745114.MPs_back_hacker_as_Home_Sec...
Oracle Cloud Office | Applications | Oracle
Oracle Cloud Office is a Web and mobile office suite. It includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and more. Based on Web open standards and the Open Document Format (ODF), Oracle Cloud Office enables Web 2.0-style collaboration and mobile document access and ensures compatibility with Microsoft Office file documents. Oracle Cloud Office is integrated with Oracle Open Office, which enables rich offline editing of complex presentation, text, and spreadsheet documents.
Oracle Cloud Office Web-scale architecture can be used for on-premise, on-demand, or software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployments.
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