Technology

More than one in four people currently integrate speech recognition into their daily lives. A new algorithm developed by a University of Copenhagen researcher and his international colleagues makes it possible to interact with digital assistants like “Siri” without any internet connection. The innovation allows for speech recognition to be used anywhere, even in situations where security is paramount.

[...]

Until now, speech recognition has relied upon a device being connected to the internet. This is because the algorithms typically used for this process require significant amounts of temporary random access memory (RAM) which is usually provided by powerful data center servers. Indeed, try switching your smartphone to airplane mode and see how far your voice commands get you. But change is in the air.

A new algorithm developed by Professor Panagiotis Karras from the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Computer Science, together with linguist Nassos Katsamanis of the Athena Research Center in Greece, and researchers from Aalto University in Finland and KTH in Sweden, allows even smaller devices like smartphones to decode speech without needing substantial memory—or internet access.

The code, recently presented in a scientific article, employs a clever strategy: it "forgets" what it doesn’t need in real-time.

[...]

This maneuver may sound simple, but it involves an entirely new and unique code for which the researchers have sought a patent. This algorithm reduces the need for critical memory without sacrificing recognition quality. And though it requires slightly more time and computational power, the researchers assure that the difference is negligible vis-à-vis the muscular capabilities of modern devices.

Moreover, it works without an internet connection, thus enabling speech recognition—and potentially real-time language translation in the future, hope the researchers—anywhere, even in the depths of the Amazon jungle.

[...]