Emerging Technologies Speech Tools and Technologies
Robert Godwin‐Jones · 2009
Using computers to recognize and analyze human speech goes back at least to the 1970's. Developed initially to help the hearing or speech impaired, speech recognition was also used early on experimentally in language learning. Since the 1990's, advances in the scientific understanding of speech as well as significant enhancements in software and hardware have allowed speech technologies to be robust enough to be deployed in commercial enterprises. At the same time, developments in the fields of linguistics and second language acquisition have led to greater interest in using computers to help in developing speaking and listening skills. As a result, there are now powerful tools and technologies available for speech analysis. There has been significant progress in projects using speech technologies for teaching pronunciation and speaking. Some major commercial language learning software also now features these technologies. New standards are being developed in this area, which should allow advances and innovations to be shared more easily and implemented more widely. Visualization of Speech Since the earliest incarnations of computer-assisted language learning, it has been possible to display human speech in a graphic representation on a computer screen. The visual display generally has shown a waveform or pitch contour. Programs such as Visi-Pitch, available since the MS-DOS days, have been