Abstract: Predicting speech recognizer confusion where utterances can be represented by any combination of text form and audio file. The utterances are represented with an intermediate representation that directly reflects the acoustic characteristics of the utterances. Text representations of the utterances can be directly used for predicting confusability without access to audio file examples of the utterances. First embodiment: two text utterances are represented with strings of phonemes and one of the strings of phonemes is transformed into the other strings of phonemes for a least cost as a confusability measure. Second embodiment: two utterances are represented with an intermediate representation of sequences of acoustic events based on phonetic capabilities of speakers obtained from acoustic signals of the utterances and the acoustic events are compared. Predicting confusability of the utterances according to a formula 2K/(T), K is a number of matched acoustic events and T is a total number of acoustic events.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and system are provided for using the historical data of a user of an application, such as a voice application, to provide to a user a more effective user interface. The present invention can allow a system to automatically provide a user of a voice application with an application service based upon the user's prior activity in the application. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a user with an interface to access the voice application and to invoke one of a plurality of application services; selecting an application service for the user, without the user requesting the application service, as a function of information representative of the user's past access to the application; and providing the selected application service to the user.

Abstract: Predicting speech recognizer confusion where utterances can be represented by any combination of text form and audio file. The utterances are represented with an intermediate representation that directly reflects the acoustic characteristics of the utterances. Text representations of the utterances can be directly used for predicting confusability without access to audio file examples of the utterances. First embodiment: two text utterances are represented with strings of phonemes and one of the strings of phonemes is transformed into the other strings of phonemes for a least cost as a confusability measure. Second embodiment: two utterances are represented with an intermediate representation of sequences of acoustic events based on phonetic capabilities of speakers obtained from acoustic signals of the utterances and the acoustic events are compared. Predicting confusability of the utterances according to a formula 2K/(T), K is a number of matched acoustic events and T is a total number of acoustic events.