Voice recognition and regional accents

[anonymous-user]

I've always wondered how voice recongnition telephone systems work, you know the sort, the kind you get when you phone your bank. Well now I'm wondering how they recongnise regional accents, with so many throughout the UK are they pre-programmed with every possible word/phrase for the regional accents across the UK?

I've just called Northern Rock and put this to the test, well actually I've called them 3 times as I found the outcome rather amusing and wanted to be sure. Their system does not recognise a Glaswegian accent saying 'yes' or 'no', I got fed up so I tried 'whey aye man' in my best fake geordie accent, and it rightly accepts this as 'yes'

If you are bored, or would like to join the experiment, please call them on 0845 60 50 500 (its a computerised system so you're not wasting their time and the call will earn them a few pennies, god knows they need it right now) and answer yes or no in whatever your regional dialect offers,

I wait for the results with baited breath

[Sam_68]

I was listening to my Engineer (Welsh) on the phone to one of these systems yesterday.

It seemed to be getting it 100% right - he didn't have to repeat anything.

I can't understand a word he says, normally.

[Munter]

They dont work for me. And my accent is quite clear of any regional tones. I forget who it was but after 3 attempts eventually it put me through to a human. I believe it struggled with the month I was saying... Totally crap systems IMO.

[BigBen]

I recently did some tests with Dragon Naturally speaking and found it coped well with regional accents (did not traing the system at all) but could not cope with non-native English speakers, i.e. even a South African and an Australian threw it despite being clearer to my ears

[fadeaway]

Sam_68 said:

I was listening to my Engineer (Welsh) on the phone to one of these systems yesterday.

It seemed to be getting it 100% right - he didn't have to repeat anything.

I can't understand a word he says, normally.

Maybe you could get this system to act as a translator

[thinfourth2]

Munter said:

They dont work for me. And my accent is quite clear of any regional tones. I forget who it was but after 3 attempts eventually it put me through to a human. I believe it struggled with the month I was saying... Totally crap systems IMO.

Same here for some reason they just don't understand me screaming DIE YOU fkING COMPUTERIZED PIECE OF st LET ME TALK TO A fkING HUMAN

[anonymous-user]

thinfourth2 said:

Munter said:

They dont work for me. And my accent is quite clear of any regional tones. I forget who it was but after 3 attempts eventually it put me through to a human. I believe it struggled with the month I was saying... Totally crap systems IMO.

Same here for some reason they just don't understand me screaming DIE YOU fkING COMPUTERIZED PIECE OF st LET ME TALK TO A fkING HUMAN

You should try them with a bit of good old Aberdeenshire Doric then

[Jasandjules]

I don't have a regional accent but those things never work for me. It repeats random things back at me it claims I have said!

[spikeyhead]

When IBM finally got their system working reliably they went down the pub to celebrate.

On their return none of them could speak clearly enough for the voice activated doors to open.

[Big Rod]

Depends on what system you're using.

They range from the dismal to astounding. My most recent experiences are with Nuance 'Natural Speech'. A good system. A metric f*ck tonne of development has gone into it, but I can't explain it just now as I have to catch a bus in five minutes, but if this post is still going when I have some time, I'll try to enlighten you.