HEAD acoustics Expands VoCAS Speech Recognition Testing Software

HEAD acoustics continues to perfect measurement and analysis solutions in the field of speech and communication quality, expanding from a vast range of hardware platforms and tools - including its HMS II.3 fullband artificial head - all the way to dedicated software that adjusts to the quickly-evolving needs in this field. The German company continues to expand VoCAS, a sophisticated software tool for performance evaluation of automatic speech recognizers, addressing real life conditions in the lab.

As rumored, Microsoft has announced the acquisition of Nuance Communications, the speech-to-text and voice recognition pioneer, for US$19.7 billion - the second-largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history. Microsoft apparently recognized the value of Nuance's efforts in healthcare, financial services, telco, retail, travel, and government applications, and recent investments in conversational AI. How will Microsoft leverage the company's products and technologies is certainly more related to his efforts in those very same verticals and synergy with its Office and Business software suites, than any effort to revive Cortana.

For the past 20 years, Nuance Communications, the voice recognition pioneer that was once Dragon Systems and ScanSoft, has been building deep domain expertise across verticals such as healthcare or retail. Now focusing on conversational AI and building AI‑powered solutions that amplify human intelligence, Nuance has announced the acquisition of Saykara, a like-minded startup focused on developing a mobile AI assistant to automate clinical documentation for physicians.