NEW YORK—A new study shows a surprisingly small number of consumers prefer to use speech-recognition technology, results that possibly dampen recent pushes by wireless companies to create a range of speech-recognizing applications.
Jupiter Media Metrix’s new report, “Managing the Migration to Speech Systems,” shows that less than 40 percent of wireless phone users express a preference for using automated speech-recognition systems over touch-tone services. Further, 16 percent, particularly younger consumers, still prefer touch-tone telephone options to speech recognition.
“Speech technologies extend telephony, not the Web,” said Seamus McAteer, a research fellow at the firm. “By using terms such as voice portal, voice browser and voice Web, many companies had hoped to extend the relevance of speech technologies beyond telephony and make it a platform for Internet services. Now, it’s time to think again. Text-to-speech technology is not suited for accessing documents such as e-mail, and will not entirely replace a reliance on recorded prompts and responses.”
