November 1998, Vol. 15, No. 11 Cross-Platform Interface Enables Speech Recognition Sun releases Java Speech API Sun Microsystems (Mountain View, Calif.; www.sun.com) has released the 1.0 specification of the Java Speech API, a vendor-neutral and cross-platform interface that extends the Java platform to allow for speech recognition and speech synthesis in applets and applications written in the Java programming language. The Java Speech API specifies a single interface for development and deployment of speech technology applications on the desktop, in small portable devices and for telephony servers. The Java Speech API was developed through an open-standards process, with significant contributions from a number of platform, speech and Java technology vendors; in particular, Apple Computer, Dragon Systems, IBM, Novell, Philips Electronics and Texas Instruments. Implementations based upon the Java Speech API are already available from IBM and Lernout & Hauspie; other vendors will release implementations soon. Java Speech API enables developers to create applications for desktop productivity, application management, speech-enabled interfaces for users with disabilities, Web page enhancement, dictation and proofreading, and telephony call center applications. In addition the Java Speech API can be used with the PersonalJava and EmbeddedJava platforms to enable speech application development for portable and small computing devices. Sun has also released the Java Speech Grammar Format (JSGF) 1.0. This is a platform-independent, vendor-independent textual representation of grammars for use in speech recognition. Grammars are used by speech recognizers to determine what the recognizer should listen for, and so describe the utterances a user may say. JSGF adopts the style and conventions of the Java programming language in addition to use of traditional grammar notations. Additionally, Sun is developing the Java Speech Markup Language (JSML), which is used to annotate text input to Java Speech API speech synthesizers. The JSML elements provide a speech synthesizer with detailed information on how to say the text. JSML includes elements that describe the structure of a document, provide pronunciations of words and phrases, and place markers in the text. Appropriate markup of text can help improve the quality and naturalness of the synthesized voice. JSML uses the Unicode character set, so it can be used to mark up text in most languages of the world. Web Site © Copyright 1997, 1998 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Lionheart Publishing, Inc. 2555 Cumberland Parkway, Suite 299, Atlanta, GA 30339 USA Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969 E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com Web: www.lionheartpub.com Web Design by Premier Web Designs E-mail: lionwebmaster@preweb.com