Embedding Speech into Mobile Devices
From: SpeechTech Magazine - March/April 2005
By: Phillip Britt

Anne Rosenfeld, a Boston-based producer of neuroscience conferences for
educators, found the 75-minute (one-way) commute between her home and office
to be a big waste of time until a dead cell phone helped her become more
productive. 

Needing a new portable phone to keep in touch with her office, suppliers,
hotels and family and friends, Rosenfeld bought a new Samsung phone which she
later learned was speech-enabled with software from VoiceSignal. 

Before she had a speech-enabled device, Rosenfeld was very hesitant to use a
cell phone in the car due to safety concerns. Because she is 60 years old,
the buttons on the cell phone can be difficult to see, making dialing while
driving a dangerous proposition, Rosenfeld explains. So the phone would often
go unused during her commute, leaving her with 12 or more hours a week of
unproductive time. The loss of productive time was especially frustrating
when the commute time doubled as it sometimes did due to heavy traffic or
poor weather. 

Now that she has a phone with embedded speech, she uses voice commands to
tell the device to call her office, family or friends. Even the social calls
add to her productivity, Rosenfeld explains. As president of her company, she
has the freedom to make those calls from the office, but now she can also
make them from the car, allowing her to be more productive when at the
office. "It's made all of the difference," Rosenfeld says. "Now I'm not
endangering myself or anyone else when I use the phone while driving. Now
that I have it, I wouldn't want to be without it."  

The entire article may be viewed at:
http://www.speechtechmag.com/issues/9_8/cover/11626-1.html

Links:
VoiceSignal
http://www.voicesignal.com/index.php3