AT&T CUSTOMERS CAN TEACH SYSTEMS TO LISTEN AND RESPOND.BASKING RIDGE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 1995--It no longer matters whether customers say "toe-may-toe" or "toe-mah-toe" when speaking to an AT&T interactive information system because businesses can now build speech recognition vocabularies that listen and respond to the natural voice requests of callers -- regardless of pronunciation pronunciation: see phonetics; phonology. Pronunciation - In this dictionary slashes (/../) bracket phonetic pronunciations of words not found in a standard English dictionary. . AT&T's FlexWord(TM) toolkit puts patented AT&T Bell Laboratories speech recognition capabilities in the hands of business customers for the first time. The toolkit allows customers to create vocabularies of up to 2,000 words and phrases Words and Phrases® A multivolume set of law books published by West Group containing thousands of judicial definitions of words and phrases, arranged alphabetically, from 1658 to the present. using FlexWord software for its INTUITY(TM) CONVERSANT CONVERSANT. One who is in the habit of being in a particular place, is said to be conversant there. Barnes, 162. (R) 5.0 interactive response system. FlexWord's advanced speech recognition technology provides an innovative solution for businesses wrestling with the idea of automating customer services. It allows callers to access services by speaking requests as an alternative to using the telephone keypad A telephone keypad is a keypad that appears on a “Touch Tone” telephone. It was standardised when the Dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) system was introduced in the 1960s, and replaced the rotary dial. to select from a menu of options. Businesses can use the toolkit to create vocabularies that recognize spoken words, terms, phrases or products specific to their industry. "While new technologies help businesses increase productivity and control costs, they may create an uneasiness with customers that may be technology averse a·verse adj. Having a feeling of opposition, distaste, or aversion; strongly disinclined: investors who are averse to taking risks. ," said Marty Parker, strategic marketing director-multimedia messaging and information processing information processing: see data processing. information processing Acquisition, recording, organization, retrieval, display, and dissemination of information. Today the term usually refers to computer-based operations. for AT&T Global Business Communications Systems In telecommunication, a communications system is a collection of individual communications networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary stations, and data terminal equipment (DTE) usually capable of interconnection and interoperation to form an integrated whole. . "Applications such as FlexWord make interacting with automation easy, fast and natural to use. It puts callers in a comfort zone with technology." For example, instead of waiting to hear a long list of options and using the telephone keypad to make a selection, customers calling into an automated au·to·mate v. au·to·mat·ed, au·to·mat·ing, au·to·mates v.tr. 1. To convert to automatic operation: automate a factory. 2. banking system could say "checking" or "savings"; or companies could have automated directories that allow callers to speak a person's name, "Ritch Blasi", and have the call directed to the person; or businesses with locations around the world could have the system ask callers for the name of a major city to help locate the store closest to them. "Speech recognition allows callers to say the words that describe their objective rather than select digits that correspond to a menu option," said Bill Meisel, editor of Speech Recognition Update, located in Encino, California. "Instead of `for price quotes press one' or `for broker press two' the system tells the caller `say price quotes' or `broker'. In effect, the system tells the caller `say what you mean'. "Customized vocabularies provide shorter menu prompts that let callers say familiar terms that are easy to remember -- providing faster, simpler access to information and services," continued Meisel. "Speech recognition eliminates remembering the associations between options and objectives, it's more accurate than speaking digits, and lowers the resistance to automated services which are becoming more common everyday." Additionally, AT&T's speech recognition provides a feature that gives callers the ability to interrupt A signal that gets the attention of the CPU and is usually generated when I/O is required. For example, hardware interrupts are generated when a key is pressed or when the mouse is moved. Software interrupts are generated by a program requiring disk input or output. a long prompt by speaking the response and having it recognized. It also has the capability of pulling key words out of phrases. For example, if a caller says, "I'd like checking, please", the system spots the word "checking" and moves on to the next step of the transaction. "Flexible speech recognition will save money for some companies by allowing more automation," said Meisel. "For others, it will allow the introduction of new money-making services." AT&T currently uses speech recognition technology to automate many services offered through its long distance network such as locating a store by speaking the name of a town or zip code zip code System of postal-zone codes (zip stands for “zone improvement plan”) introduced in the U.S. in 1963 to improve mail delivery and exploit electronic reading and sorting capabilities. , or selecting catalog catalog, descriptive list, on cards or in a book, of the contents of a library. Assurbanipal's library at Nineveh was cataloged on shelves of slate. The first known subject catalog was compiled by Callimachus at the Alexandrian Library in the 3d cent. B.C. items and validating a credit card number with a caller's natural voice. For more information on AT&T's INTUITY CONVERSANT system, FlexWord software or other voice/information processing products and services, customers can contact their AT&T account executive or call 1-800-325-7466. CONTACT: AT&T, Basking Ridge Ritch Blasi, 908-953-7514 (office) 908-469-6801 (home) or Glynnis Woolridge, 908-953-7526 (office) 908-247-0839 (home) |
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