Table of Contents:

Definition and Overview

1. Introduction

2. Current State of the Art for Speech-Enabled IVR Applications

3. Phonetic Speech Recognition

4. Features and Benefits of IVR Speech Solutions

5. Current Commercial Applications

6. Development and Deployment Strategy

Self-Test

Glossary

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Definition
Serving as a bridge between people and computer databases, interactive voice response systems (IVRs) connect telephone users with the information they need, from anywhere at any time. These systems have been around for more than a decade, and today they are used to support stock trade transactions, make travel arrangements, and manage bank accounts. Most of today's IVR and transaction-processing applications employ a touch-tone or dual-tone multifrequency (DTMF) user interface. However, applications that allow callers to use their own voice rather than DTMF inputs to complete transactions are rapidly emerging as the latest innovation in telephony-based remote self-service.

Overview
The quickening pace of adoption of speech solutions in the IVR industry is currently driven by improvements in speech algorithms, natural language processing, vocabulary management, and language modeling. In addition to these technological advancements, a number of related market factors are combining to make speech the IVR user interface of choice for today and tomorrow. This tutorial explores the current state of speech-enabled IVR applications, with emphasis on phonetic speech recognition, features and benefits, and development and deployment strategies.