New directions in automatic speech recognition: a communication perspective

Summary form only given, as follows. The possibility of automatic speech recognition on computers has fuelled dreams for many years. Indeed, automatic speech recognition holds great promise if the spoken words can be recognised correctly by machines in fluent speech. We review the current state-of-the-art in automatic speech recognition and point to the new directions that research in this field must explore to continue this progress. Statistical modelling of speech using utterances spoken by many speakers in a variety of environments has been important in achieving the progress that has been realised so far. But on the negative side, the statistical modelling approach has led to solutions that are narrow and do not generalise. The statistical approach, although fruitful in the early development of the technology, is now a hindrance as we become much more ambitious in seeking solutions to bigger problems. We take a fresh look at the problem of automatic speech recognition, not as a problem in statistical modelling, but as a problem in voice communication where the goal is to recognise every spoken word correctly and discuss the fundamental underpinnings of this new approach