Deployable Automatic Speech Recognition Systems - Advances and Challenges

Recent advances in automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology have spawned considerable interests and possibilities in new products and services that capitalize on the enhanced human-machine communication capability. This paper addresses several key issues in the design of a deployable ASR and discusses new dimensions and developments of the overall technology that enable us to meet the challenge. We also present several real world experiences in bringing about successful applications of the ASR technology in AT&T's current products and services in hopes of enhancing our understanding of the technology and the research effort further needed in realizing the new telecommunication paradigm of the next century.