- Speech study may help phone booking line

Automated ticket booking lines could be improved to better understand what customers are saying, thanks to research. Computer scientists have pinpointed the most common speech recognition errors made by automated phone systems, in a bid to improve their accuracy. The study, led by a scientist at the University, found that computers commonly fail to understand speech when it is peppered with 'umm' and 'err' sounds. Also, men tend to be misunderstood more than women when talking to computers, partly because they umm and err more frequently, the research found. Common errors. Scientists also found that speech recognition systems commonly fail to identify the first word spoken in a phrase. Researchers say this may be because the machine cannot put the word in context, or because the speaker inhales just before talking.