Aculab launches its first speaker verification software

Speech processing specialist Aculab is entering the biometrics arena with the launch of its own speaker verification software

UK, Germany, Australia, US, South America, Korea, China, India -- Speech processing specialist Aculab is entering the biometrics arena with the launch of its own speaker verification and identification (SVI) software at SpeechTek 2002.

Designed for use in telephony applications, the new software forms a component part of Aculabs new connected word recognition (CWR) 3.0 package, which is available under a cost free licence when used with the companys Prosody digital signal processor (DSP) resource card.

Aimed at systems integrators and developers, the new SVI software uses statistical data to confirm a caller's identity by their unique voiceprint and provides an extremely cost effective, convenient and secure way to access personal information over the phone.

Because Aculabs SVI is built on existing speech recognition technology, the two can run simultaneously. Ultimately, this means that applications can verify the caller based on their voice and for an even more secure verification, a piece of personal knowledge can be included in a recognition process.

Using biometrics -- or physical characteristics - of the human voice to verify that individuals are indeed 'who they say they are, Aculabs latest software offers high-density SVI that can run in parallel with its range of DSP resources. These include record, playback, echo cancellation and dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) detection to produce high quality versatile applications with low 'per channel costs.

Working in conjunction with other speech processing technologies such as text-to-speech (TTS) and automatic speech recognition (ASR) further enhances self-service applications. Not only can they process a callers request and retrieve the right information, they can also verify the callers ID.

In a typical application, the new software can provide high verification accuracy using only a single, short utterance. Up to 120 channels can be supported by a 1.9 GHz processor, widely used in new PCs.

Aculabs sales and marketing director, Chris Gravett, believes that the new SVI technology will be widely adopted by the financial services sector and government as well as by companies that need to give employees secure access to intranets, extranets and corporate applications.

In the telecoms arena, it can be used to reduce fraud associated with calling cards," he says. For enterprises, the real advantage of SVI is the security issue that it overcomes. It presents a huge cost saving for companies who have to spend money on sourcing lost PIN numbers and passwords.

If you would like further information, senior Aculab representatives will be available at SpeechTek 2002 on stand number 205, New York Marriott Marquis, 1535, Broadway, New York, NY 136. ENDS

About Aculab
Through a customer-focused approach to development, Aculab has produced a computer telephony (CT) product portfolio that satisfies the speech resource and global digital connectivity requirements of developers and system integrators. CT applications utilising Aculabs components can handle real-time telephony, through an extensive range of resources and signalling systems.

The evolution of Aculabs generic API, to provide a consistent programming interface, reduces the integration time of a combination of technologies including text-to-speech (TTS), automatic speech recognition (ASR), conferencing and fax. Collectively through supporting a broad range of industry standards and operating systems, Aculab can provide the products needed when quality and performance cannot be compromised.

Aculabs head office is located in Milton Keynes, UK with offices in North America, Germany and Australia. Website: www.aculab.com

For more information contact:
Katie Chaplin
Aculab
Telephone: +44 (0) 1908 273 800
Email: katie.chaplin@aculab.com

Tracey Williams
TWPR
Telephone: +44 (0) 1225 723237 Email: twpr@compuserve.com