Speech Recognition is Hard
Why did it take so long for speech and speech recognition technology to hit mainstream? You can trace the technology back at least as far as Bell Labs who claimed the first major success in the field in the 1930’s when telephone engineers developed the famous Voder a speech synthesizer that was unveiled to the public with great flourish and fanfare at the 1939 World’s Faire, but required a human operator.
That was not so much speech recognition but rather speech generation, but not long after we saw one of the first instance on television thanks to Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek in the episode in 1964 (Wolf in the Fold) where we saw: “Computer, compute to the last digit the value of pi”
And of course the (in)famous Hal from 1968 classic “2001, A Space Odyssey”
Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that
It turns out understanding human speech is full of challenges some technical like sound or audio quality, background noise but also comprehension.
Phillip lies
Just two words but could be interpreted either as Phillip being a liar, or that Phillip is lying on a bed. Increase that to 4 words and the problems expand:
I made her duck
The list of possible interpretations include:
- I cooked waterfowl for her
- I cooked waterfowl belonging to her
- I created the (ceramic) duck she owns
- I caused her to quickly lower her head or body
- I waved my magic wand and turned her into an undifferentiated waterfowl
You get the picture
So Does Intent
It’s very easy in our current age of instant gratification, the availability of information, much we are discovering is either intentionally or unintentionally wrong and the easy access to everything to leap to conclusions about people’s words.
I hear frequently that words matter and they do. But so does the context, the individual, the history and your relationship (or lack of relationship) with the source. Think about your own life and the words you use. Is it possible people hear them and misunderstand what you meant or where trying to say. I know I certainly have made statements in the past or had interactions with others that I come away thinking – I know I could have said things better or done better. I’m imperfect but try to stay true to my own guiding principles but fail and probably more often than I am personally aware. I know time and experience have changed me and my opinions and positions on a variety of topics and I can be found looking back wistfully at my ineptitude at good positive interactions with all the people I have had the opportunity to interact with.
The good news is many realize this and we get a pass – perhaps especially so in our own families where the bonds and insights are deeper and therefore the understanding better to be belt o give some latitude to words that in hindsight are harsh or hurtful
Before you judge or form an opinion about someone’s words it might be worth taking a pause and asking yourself what they might be trying to say, what their position is and where they are coming from. You don’t have to excuse bad behavior but equally, we should not judge on single words – especially if they are written not spoken
There’s a word for that – Empathy
Comments
Comments are closed.
Jayne Histalk MD On September 12, 2019 at 5:24 pm
Excellent post…. love the section on intent.