These days, when people wish to contact many large organizations, a human doesn't tend to answer the phone.
In its place, an automated voice with recorded answers, instructs you to press buttons to go through the menu options.
Many companies have now progressed beyond asking you to press various buttons, and often you can just say certain words to get where you require.
The system that makes this all possible is a type of speech recognition program working alongside an automated call answering system.
So following on from this, there are several software programs that you can purchase personally for home speech recognition or alternatively for use in SMEs.
(1) There are a good range of software products enabling users to speak into their computer and subsequently have their words converted into either word processing or an e-mail.
You are also able to employ voice instructions to access functions and commands, including opening files and accessing menus.
Some software for speech recognition has been specifically written for certain business environments, for instance legal or medical dictation.
People prevented from typing through a disability have also taken up the use of speech recognition systems.
If a user has lost the use of one or more hands, or in the case of sight impaired individuals, when it is not feasible to use a Braille keyboard, these systems allow independent use of a computer or other systems, such as a ticket vending machine or similar.
With the passage of time, this technology reached greater heights as it evolved as a core requirement for many uses.
Initially, many believed that the use of this sort of technology will be limited, but recent developments have proved otherwise.
This software did make our life easier in a number of different ways; for example, instead of typing, now we have the facility to simply talk to our computer, or vice versa.
This not only saves time, but also makes our work simpler.
The critics of this technology can now have another look at the recent developments and advancements in this particular field, for instance, the number of different text to speech tools and software available today.
Current software for speech recognition on the market falls into two categories: "Small vocabulary with many user" systems are perfect for automated call answering.
The callers can speak with a great deal of dissimilarity in speech patterns and accent and the system will still comprehend what they want.
However, usage is limited to a small number of programmed inputs or commands such as basic menu selection or digits.
Alternatively, there is software for speech recognition with a "large vocabulary and a limited number of users".
These systems work best in a business environment where a smaller quantity of users will be working with the software.
While this software for speech recognition works well with a good degree of accuracy; often 85 percent or higher is achievable with a skilled user and have tens of thousands of words in their vocabularies, users must still educate the software to work efficiently with the smaller number of key users.
Having said that, one can't ignore the improvements this technology still needs to make it more accurate, reliable, efficient and easy-to-use.
Hopefully, like any other technology, speech recognition tools and software will gain even more acceptance worldwide in the times to come.
(1) Small Medium-Sized Enterprises