4 ms·

I'm surprised they didn't mention that in areas with a lot of background noise, eg public places, voice recognition doesn't work as well. I think that is also a

by ilanco 10y ago

I'm surprised they didn't mention that in areas with a lot of background noise, eg public places, voice recognition doesn't work as well. I think that is also a reason why people refrain from using it in public. From personal experience I can say it's very frustrating to repeat the command to your phone multiple times because it's sorry it didn't get that, or calls your ex girlfriend instead of playing some music.

2sk21 10y ago
Indeed - this is a good point. I travel a lot on subway in New York and by bus to my home in the suburbs. Apart from not wanting to disturb other other passengers, the noise levels are generally so high that its hard to get your word recognized. I need to use a pair of noise cancelling headphone to listen to anything at all.
amelius 10y ago
Could this be fixed by a (bluetooth) microphone attached to the bones in the face (e.g. jawbone)?
- Gys 10y ago
  Seems possible and available but not very user-friendly (yet) - time for some startup to 'disrupt' the microphone market ;-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subvocal_recognition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subvocal_recognition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throat_microphone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throat_microphone
  - amelius 10y ago
    Interesting. I always believed that an important part of the voice was created in the mouth (tongue, soft palate, lips), and the larynx was only responsible for producing the base frequency. But apparently, attaching a microphone to the larynx works as a means to recognizibly capture the voice. I might have to adjust my understanding of the voice :)
scalio 10y ago
It's all much more fun with an over-sensitive (broken) home button at a festival. Random calls for everyone!
durzagott 10y ago
My experience is totally opposite. I've found Google voice search very effective, even in a crowded bar. When I listen to some the recordings that were successful[1], I'm frankly amazed at what a good job it does. 1. https://history.google.com/history/audio https://history.google.com/history/audio
- gd2 10y ago
  Didn't know about the easy available saved history URL. Interesting.
- grkvlt 10y ago
  That URL is the most amazing thing I have ever seen! Unfortunately, it does not convince me of the power of speech operated interfaces. My history tends to consist of a series of multi-part voice commands with the first or second phrase being repeated multiple times, in progressively more angry tones of voice, until it seems I give up. It looks like the most common thing I do, interestingly, is set timers for myself. The most hilarious clip I found was one where Google had transcribed the request as "bbbbbbb bbbbbbb bbbbbbb" and on playing it back, I heard the sound of my alarm clock going off with a steady beep, beep, beep...!
Fricken 10y ago
Google voice used to work poorly in noisy environments, then one day it didn't. I was at a trivia contest in a noisy bar a few months ago. When no one could answer a question off the top of their head, the question would go to a phone search permitted round. Our table won the contest handily because I could use voice search more quickly than any one else could manually type in queries.

by ilanco 10y ago

2sk21 10y ago

Indeed - this is a good point. I travel a lot on subway in New York and by bus to my home in the suburbs. Apart from not wanting to disturb other other passengers, the noise levels are generally so high that its hard to get your word recognized. I need to use a pair of noise cancelling headphone to listen to anything at all.

amelius 10y ago

Could this be fixed by a (bluetooth) microphone attached to the bones in the face (e.g. jawbone)?

Gys 10y ago
Seems possible and available but not very user-friendly (yet) - time for some startup to 'disrupt' the microphone market ;-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subvocal_recognition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subvocal_recognition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throat_microphone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throat_microphone
- amelius 10y ago
  Interesting. I always believed that an important part of the voice was created in the mouth (tongue, soft palate, lips), and the larynx was only responsible for producing the base frequency. But apparently, attaching a microphone to the larynx works as a means to recognizibly capture the voice. I might have to adjust my understanding of the voice :)

scalio 10y ago

It's all much more fun with an over-sensitive (broken) home button at a festival. Random calls for everyone!

durzagott 10y ago

My experience is totally opposite. I've found Google voice search very effective, even in a crowded bar. When I listen to some the recordings that were successful[1], I'm frankly amazed at what a good job it does. 1. https://history.google.com/history/audio https://history.google.com/history/audio

gd2 10y ago
Didn't know about the easy available saved history URL. Interesting.
grkvlt 10y ago
That URL is the most amazing thing I have ever seen! Unfortunately, it does not convince me of the power of speech operated interfaces. My history tends to consist of a series of multi-part voice commands with the first or second phrase being repeated multiple times, in progressively more angry tones of voice, until it seems I give up. It looks like the most common thing I do, interestingly, is set timers for myself. The most hilarious clip I found was one where Google had transcribed the request as "bbbbbbb bbbbbbb bbbbbbb" and on playing it back, I heard the sound of my alarm clock going off with a steady beep, beep, beep...!

Fricken 10y ago

Google voice used to work poorly in noisy environments, then one day it didn't. I was at a trivia contest in a noisy bar a few months ago. When no one could answer a question off the top of their head, the question would go to a phone search permitted round. Our table won the contest handily because I could use voice search more quickly than any one else could manually type in queries.