Clarity's Voice is Heard Loud and Clear in Silicon Valley At AVIOS Speech Tech Expo.

Business Editors

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 2000

Co-Developer Presents Data, Demonstrates Technology That Captures

Sound of Interest and Eliminates Extraneous Noises

Clarity LLC may have achieved the "breakthrough" that the rapidly growing voice interface and speech recognition industry has been "desperately" searching for - the extraction and "purification" of the primary sound and the elimination of unwanted background noises.

Addressing the 19th annual conference of the Applied Voice Input/Output Society here in the heart of Silicon Valley, Professor Fathi Salam of Michigan State University and co-developer of Clarity's Clear Voice Capture(TM) CVC(TM) software technology, told attendees that, "We have concluded and the data demonstrates that Clarity's CVC(TM) technology provides dramatic and unmatched improvement in speech recognition rates."

Dr. Salam explained that, "Noise is the primary barrier to broad user acceptance of voice based interfaces and we achieved these remarkable results with Clarity's novel signal processing technology in a variety of controlled and real world environments and against the latest and most expensive array microphones using popular speech recognition software products."

Clarity backed up Dr. Salam's presentation with demonstrations of its proprietary CVC(TM) software technology. Further compelling evidence of the interest in the Troy, Mich., company's technology was demonstrated by "serious" inquiries from Intel, IBM, Motorola, On-Star, and Sprint.

The conference, titled The AVIOS 2000 Speech Technology & Applications Expo, is dedicated to "promoting quality in speech recognition applications," according to William Meisel, Executive Director of AVIOS and president of TMA Associates, a recognized expert in the voice interface market. Voice interface applications involve virtually every facet of the economy. AVIOS is a not-for-profit group.

Applications for Clarity's CVC technology include: speech recognition software, voice-based command and control, voice authentication, and voice communications, such as Internet (VOIP) and cellular telephony. The technology can be embedded into many consumer products, including Automotive Telematics, desktop, laptop and palmtop computers, personal-digital assistants, cellular-phones, intelligent home appliances, educational toys, and voice recording devices.

Clarity's CVC technology has been applauded for its ability to clearly extract and capture a single voice signal from a mixture of unwanted noise sources. Systems equipped with this novel technology will achieve a higher level of accuracy and performances, further accelerating the adoption rate and user acceptance of voice features.

With effective voice interface capabilities, all of these products serve markets poised for substantial growth over the next five years.

In the Automotive market where Clarity sees a tremendous need and a frenzied audience, The Intelligent Transportation Society of America, a Washington D.C. "think tank" that supplies data to the Department of Transportation, reports that there are more than 201 million cars in the U.S. today and that Americans collectively spend more than 500 million hours in their cars each week with an average commuting time of 80 minutes per day and growing.

With the introduction and high adoption rate of the Internet, automobile manufacturers now have a mechanism to offer their customers access to a broad spectrum of services never before seen, such as Internet services through cellular phones and satellite Internet access, electronic mail, navigation tools, in-car satellite radio and video as well as traffic updates. "With many countries around the world having banned, or in the process of banning hand-held cell phones in automobiles, Clarity is in a position to deliver hands-free, headset-free digital signal processing technology that enables effective voice based command and communications in the noisy automobile environment," said Ed Narens, president and CEO of Narens Associates, and automotive marketing firm, founded in 1952.

Clarity's objective is to be a leading provider of software products that improve voice activated human-machine interfaces and the quality and efficiency of telecommunication systems. Clarity's primary strategy for achieving this goal is entering into co-development alliances and licensing arrangements with Original Equipment Manufacturers and suppliers in a broad range of industries, as well as semiconductor manufacturers and telecommunications network operators worldwide.

All product names and trademarks mentioned herein are trademarks of Clarity.