The world was first introduced to Google Voice Search two years ago. The initial goal was simple, offer voice search that “just works” out of the box. Fast forward to 2010 and now Google is looking to rebuild the app with personalized recognition, catered to learning how you speak.
Personalized recognition for Google Voice Search is an opt in feature. Much like the Facebook facial recognition feature announced today, Google’s personalized recognition is focused on improving an existing product. The process begins by associating the recordings of the words you ask the program to recognize with your Google account.
Then Google uses those words to build a speech model specifically for you. By using the speech model, Google Voice Search is able to improve speech recognition accuracy and over time, the improvements are even more pronounced. For the instant gratification type, myself included, the accuracy improvements begin fairly quickly, almost instantly.
Those of you concerned with your privacy should not that you will be presented with a dialog to turn on personalized recognition the first time you open Voice Search. If you’d like to disassociate your voice recordings from your Google Account, you can do so through the Google Dashboard in the Speech section.
Now for the requirements– currently personalized recognition for Voice Search is only available for English speakers inside the United States. Other countries and languages will be supported soon, but for now consider it a “soft launch”. To enable the feature you’ll also need to be using an Android 2.2 or higher device and need to download the Voice Search app from Android Market.
Google was also quick to mention that the latest version of Voice Search includes some improvements to the name recognition and speed, especially over 3G and EDGE connections. We know that many of you will not be able to test drive the new App so we’ll be giving it a go on our side of the pond throughout the day. We’ll report back to you with our findings. If you happen to live in the states, go ahead and let us know how the new app is working out for you, we love to hear the feedback.
To download Google Voice Search simply search “Voice Search” in the Android Market or scan the QR code below:
Out Now | Android Market | Free
