Voice Says It All in the Navy.

The article focuses on voice technology being developed by the U.S. Navy. The commercial potential for voice technology innovations currently being developed by the U. S. Navy is immense. Although speech technology has existed for two decades, widespread use is a recent phenomenon. Following improvements in accuracy, speed, portability, and high-noise operation, the development of speech dictation and recognition applications by the private sector, federal agencies, and armed services has increased. The Naval Voice Interactive Device (NVID) prototype is a compact, mobile computing device that includes voice interactive technology, stylus screen input capability, and an indoor-readable display that enables shipboard medical personnel to complete environmental survey checklists, view reference materials related to these checklists, manage tasks, and generate reports using the collected data. Despite current limitations in speech technology, the NVID prototype was successful in reducing the time needed to complete inspections, supporting local reporting requirements, and allowing corpsmen to complete surveys expeditiously. The potential of this type of innovation is immense for commercial industry, public medical industry and also manufacturing and services industry. Widespread adoption of these and related technologies across industry and consumer applications is certain to result in timesavings, convenience, and safety.