Speech recognition is coming of age in consumer applications. One can buy dictation software for home PC's, and the consumer is often confronted with server-based speech recognition in the form of automated information systems at brokerage houses, package delivery firms, and airlines.

Most of the computing devices sold last year, however, were neither PCs nor servers; they were controllers and Digital Signal Processing chips. Voice Signal Technologies is focused on delivering state-of-the-art speech recognition software and interfaces on these platforms.

Contrary to popular opinion, competent speech recognition interfaces can be built on these devices, which appear in appliances, toys, cars, and cell phones. The field of embedded speech recognition is emerging, and consumers are beginning to demand compent, user friendly systems which speak and listen.

Dr Cohen will describe the Voice Signal Technologies philosophy and the story of embedded devices in the modern economy. He will demonstrate several applications of modern speech algorithms in embedded applications. The talk will be interactive.

Jordan Cohen has served as the Chief Technology Officer of Voice Signal Technologies of Woburn, Massachusetts for the past year. Before that, he was the Director of Business Relations at Dragon Systems, and prior to that he served on the staff of the Institutes for Defense Analyses in Princeton, NJ. Dr. Cohen was active in speech recognition research at IBM in the mid 80's, and before that he did research for the Department of Defense.

Jordan was the founder of a series of summer workshops in speech recognition, first at the Center for Aids to Industrial Productivity at Rutgers, and now an annual event at the Johns Hopkins University under the tutelage of Dr. Fred Jelinek. Dr. Cohen holds a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Connecticut.