ScanSoft to develop Indian language speech recognition software

ScanSoft, Inc is looking at developing speech recognition software for an

Indian language. As part of its endeavor to add regional languages to its

language library, ScanSoft is looking towards India.

With two Chinese versions, a Japanese and a Korean version available,

ScanSoft is undertaking research to put a fix on which Indian language will it

be. Says Peter Hauser, Senior Vice President, ScanSoft, "We are doing a

market study to understand if the priority is Hindi or any other language."

He further claimed that the company had all the technical expertise to

develop the software, it was just the commercial issues that were being looked

at. The company´s main concern however is whether a sufficiently big market

exists. HCL Infosystems, distributors for ScanSoft products in the country is

assisting in the research.

He further cited examples of government assisting in cases where the project

was commercially not viable. "The Malaysian Government and the Basque

administration in Spain have come forward to fund such projects."

Speech recognition coupled with character recognition can help create

workflow applications that will aid governments in e-governance, he explained.

The company can optically recognize 120 character sets including eight Asian

languages.

MOHIT CHHABRA