Voice Based Browsing To Be a Reality Soon

Internet browsing just became even easier with the development of Voice based browsing technology. Till date we have been browsing the internet by typing in the keywords or by typing the name of the site but in near future with the Voice based browsing technology the process became simpler. Just say, “CrazyEngineers.com” and boom! The site will open in front of you.

The project has been undertaken by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and is being funded by the Union government's department of information technology. This project is aimed and expected to be completed in two years time. This voice based browsing will offer service in four languages namely English, Hindi, Urdu and Bengali in the beginning. The application will prove to be a boon to the visually challenged people.

To help the computer recognize things said to it by the user, software for automatic speech recognition will be developed under this project. The command can be given in voice i.e. the site to be opened can be spoken to the computer. The computer will then convert the voice into text and carry on with the browsing. The better part is yet to come. After completing your search, the computer will convert the text into voice and answer you in the same language that you spoke. Technologies of speech-to-text and text-to-speech have been put into use to make the browsing experience simpler for everyone.

C-DAC executive director, Hemant Darbari said, "For instance, if a user wants to browse the website of the government of India, he/she can speak it in front of the computer. The software will convert the speech to text and go for processing and the required information will be retrieved. The software will then convert the text on the website to speech and the computer will speak it out for the user."

The technology will also be useful to uneducated people or computer illiterate users. This technology will be of specific help to the visually or physically challenged people like the ones paralyzed after stroke. Also, it will ease out the complicatedness of the people for whom keyboard typing is tough. Ajai Kumar, group co-coordinator, applied artificial intelligence group, C-DAC said, “The software is also aimed at helping those in rural areas who are unable to type or do not understand the keyboard. There are cases where keyboards in regional languages are not available, especially in remote areas. So, this technology will be useful there.” The technology will definitely make the internet more popular among the masses and also a lot more easier.

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