Inventec again picks Lernout & Hauspie to drive new talking dictionary; speech products turns new era dictionary into language tutor.IEPER, Belgium & BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Aug. 9, 1996--Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :LHSPF) today announced that its text-to-speech and digitized speech compression Encoding digital speech to take up less storage space and transmission bandwidth. The PCM, ADPCM, CELP and LD-CELP methods are commonly used for speech compression. See speech codec and data compression. technology have been licensed for use in Inventec's New Era computer dictionary computer dictionary - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing that helps users learn foreign languages. The computer dictionary will use Lernout & Hauspie text-to-speech technology (L&H.tts3000/C) to electronically pronounce words selected by users. Lernout & Hauspie low-bit coding technology (L&H.smc350) is also being used to enable the dictionary's recording capability, which consumers can use to compare their own pronunciation to the standard pronunciation generated by the text-to-speech technology. "We selected Lernout & Hauspie TTS technology because it produces high quality speech in many different languages at a very low cost. We selected the L&H coding technology because it permits us to record the human voice at bit rates as low as 4.8 kbps, which is a breakthrough on a device like this dictionary this dictionary - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing ," said Thomas Liao, senior vice president of Inventec. "L&H simply produces the best voice quality and most correct pronunciation. And the fact that Lernout & Hauspie technologies are easy to use and adapt enables us to develop country-specific products quickly. We view L&H as a one-stop-shop for speech technology...and they support us and our developers." The New Era computer dictionary bundles together several features not normally found in electronic dictionaries: a card slot A socket for inserting a printed circuit board or a PC Card (CardBus card). See PC Card. that accepts electronic books, a second slot for a database extension, it accepts handwritten hand·write tr.v. hand·wrote , hand·writ·ten , hand·writ·ing, hand·writes To write by hand. [Back-formation from handwritten.] Adj. 1. input through a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) A handheld computer for managing contacts, appointments and tasks. It typically includes a name and address database, calendar, to-do list and note taker, which are the functions in a personal information manager (see PIM). panel and electronically records the spoken word to allow users to check their pronunciation against correct standard speech generated by Lernout & Hauspie technology. "We're thrilled that Inventec will use our technology in its new, state-of-the-art electronic dictionary," said Jo Lernout, co-founder and president of Lernout & Hauspie. "It demonstrates how speech technology can make other technology more useful for consumers." The New Era computer dictionary, using Lernout & Hauspie technology, is expected to be sold in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , China, Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. , Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. About Lernout & Hauspie Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products is an international leader in the development of speech technology for commercial products in four markets: Telecommunications, Computers and Multimedia, Automotive Electronics, and Consumer Electronics. Lernout & Hauspie licenses core automatic speech recognition, text-to-speech, and digital speech compression technologies. The company's worldwide headquarters is in Ieper, Belgium, and its Asian sales offices are located in Taipei, Taiwan and Hong Kong; U.S. headquarters is at 20 Mall Road, Burlington, MA 01803. Phone 617/238-0960; Fax: 617/238-0986. CONTACT: Hill & Knowlton, Chicago Jim Martinez, 312/255-1200 or L&H Europe Scott Garlick, 011-32-2-456-05-00 |
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