Audio Video News

Recognizing that voice control will play an increasingly larger role in audio/video and smart home technology as we move into the future, Sensory, a Silicon Valley technology company specializing in voice technologies, has announced a collaboration with Philips to create a “best-in-class” suite of speech recognition technologies.

The companies said the collaboration, which combines Sensory’s TrulyHandsfree, and TrulyNatural technologies with Philips’ BeClear Speech Enhancement algorithm, will significantly improve voice recognition in noisy environments. By processing an audio signal with Philips' echo cancellation, noise suppression, and/or beam-forming processors before passing it to Sensory's speech recognition engine, much of the unwanted ambient noise in a signal can be filtered out, leaving the critical speech portion of the signal largely untouched. This process will allow Sensory's speech recognizer to decipher near- and far-field speech more accurately in conditions where very high ambient noise is present, according to Sensory.

"We tested various implementations of our BeClear Speech Enhancement algorithms with Sensory's industry-leading speech recognition engine and have seen impressive improvements in accuracy in noiseless to high-noise environments," said Navin Natoewal, Philips’ general manager, media interaction. "Manufacturers are focused on improving the user experience of their products, and many plan to accomplish this by implementing a hands-free interface that is effective in noisy environments…[Our] packaged solution…will ensure that devices hear their users even at far distances in the noisiest environments."

Applications for the combined technology include multiple categories of consumer electronics, including TV and home theater, mobile devices, digital assistants, Internet of Things (IoT), smart homes, and automotive.

Founded in 1994, Sensory said its speech recognition technology has been used in close to a billion products from consumer electronics companies, including JVC, Kenwood, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony.