First published – 17 January 2002
Milton Keynes, UK — The world`s first interactive dialogue system that can interpret and pronounce Maori has been created by VeCommerce Limited using speech processing and text-to-speech resources from Aculab combined with speech recognition software from Nuance.
Sydney-based VeCommerce, a partner of both Aculab and Nuance, developed the VeCab system for New Zealand`s leading taxi company, Auckland Co-op Taxis, which has 75 call centre staff handling approximately 250,000 calls per month.
The VeCab system works by allowing passengers to talk to the Taxi Despatch computer over the telephone to carry out booking requests. Simply put, customers place bookings without the need for an operator to enter the details into the taxi despatch system.
“When customers call the VeCab system, their voice is recorded and simultaneously sent to the speech recogniser for processing,” explains Ian Colville, product manager at Aculab, which also provided the digital signal processing resources used to create the application.
“The system uses a series of spoken prompts to elicit information from the caller. If the computer does not understand something, it automatically prompts the caller to repeat that part of the message.”
Text-to-speech technology from Aculab is then used to confirm the requirements such as pick up location back to the caller.
“For example, when the taxi despatch computer confirms that a caller is ringing from Whangarei, the text-to-speech element of the system will say to the caller ” We have you at Whangarei Golf Club in Tikipunga?” But with the correct Maori pronunciation, it is something like `Fongarey` rather than the English phonetic equivalent,” explains Ian Colville.
He points out that because the Maori language uses many pronunciations not found in English, NZ place names can be a problem for speech technology systems. VeCommerce were able to use Aculab`s LexMan dictionary manager – which allows developers to create, update and extend multiple text-to-speech lexica for custom pronunciations – providing a unique phonetic vocabulary for the Maori pronunciations and make them available to the application.
“Text-to-speech really comes into its own here, as recording every street, road and suburb name in New Zealand would have been uneconomical,” says Ian Colville. “The result is the world`s first combination of natural language speech recognition and text-to-speech synthesis application that can interpret and pronounce Maori and other unique names correctly.”
For Auckland Co-Op Taxis, the system will reduce call handling costs, increase the ability to handle busy periods more effectively, reduce the need for complex rostering and enable the company to expand its booking capabilities without increasing labour costs.
“We take pride in our leadership position in this industry and are keenly aware that to sustain that position we need to be innovative in our approach to service customers,” said Robert van Heiningen, Chairman and CEO of Auckland Co-op Taxis, which has 700 vehicles carrying 7,000,000 passengers every year.
“With VeCommerce`s VeCab solution, we have the world`s latest technology to service the booking needs of our patrons.”
The VeCab system has been developed by VeCommerce on its proprietary multimedia platform, FirstContact, using Nuance`s flagship speech recognition software, Nuance 7.0, which offers supreme accuracy and reliability for voice-driven applications via the telephone.
Digital signal processing resources have been provided by Aculab`s Prosody PCI platform, which has been configured to support 60 channels of Nuance natural language speech recognition, including echo cancellation and barge in. Spoken responses are generated by Aculab`s multilingual text-to-speech software, which is supplied with a cost free licence. Prosody also provides 60 channels of E1 connectivity. ENDS
