Talking Machines

  In technology, there is always something new to consider, an emerging idea or device to learn about. That's both the source of excitement and the root of a frustration inherent in the field. Personally, I love the sense of adventure that accompanies a job centered in academic technology. New ideas continually flow through my email, my conversations and the information sources I visit. The frustration stems from the fact that it's impossible to ever feel fully "caught up" with the field. There is always this sense that I should be more knowledgeable about devices and software and applications. But I've certainly come to realize that the feeling of never quite being completely caught up with the field of technology is a feeling shared with all my peers. To think otherwise would be foolish.   

    Thinking about technological developments in the last few years, voice recognition-based devices seem to me to be particularly significant.  The advent of Siri, Cortana and Alexa, for example, has given hundreds of millions of users the ability to talk to their phones or stand-alone devices and make requests. These requests can be for information or can accomplish tasks such as turning on lights or cueing up a song.  What was once science fiction is now reality. Walk into your home and talk to an inconspicuous table-top device and tasks are completed seamlessly. Wow! 
    Check CNET's site for an examination of how different software systems can work in your home. 
    I'm confident this particular technology will find its way into schools and become part of our future learning environments. Teachers and students will pose questions in class as they have done for millennia, but in the near future, these questions will be prefaced with a verbal cue that will activate a device that offers a response. It will be like having an omnipresent expert in the classroom. 

     For a review of how voice recognition technology has evolved over the last several decades, take a look:

    In considering the evolution of voice recognition software, my thoughts went back in time a century and a half, or so, to the emerging industrial revolution. It was a similarly heady time when, between the end of the Civil War and the advent of World War I, astounding technological advances were made. During this approximately 50 year period, in the words of Jacques Ellul, mechanization took command. Electricity was tamed, the internal combustion engine was put to use and the understanding of the physics of sound and light gave rise to such fundamental communication tools as the radio, the telephone and the electric light.  Flight was developed. So was the assembly line. In field after field, technology seemed to offer new, improved ways to accomplish time worn tasks. 
    As a reminder that new technologies have given past generations the same sort of wow factor we derive from today's cutting edge developments, an examination of the literature of technological progress circa the late 19th century is instructive. The particular work I'd like to focus on is by Philip G. Hubert, Jr. At the time he was the Music Critic for the NY Evening Post, but he also wrote an article titled "The New Talking-Machines" for The Atlantic magazine in 1889.  The article examines the phonograph as a new, cutting edge technology that has sophisticated voice recognition abilities. In the case of the phonograph, it is people  recognizing the voices the phonograph has recorded and plays.

 

    Mr. Hubert opens with a brief history of Edison's work on the phonograph. It was developed in 1875 but as a new invention, languished for a decade or more. It simply was not a good enough product for practical value. The problem with this early version is that it could not faithfully reproduce a human voice with clarity.  Whistles, tunes and other noises were fully discernible, but clear human voice reproduction was elusive. 
    Though patents had been taken to secure rights to the audio technology, Edison understood the early phonograph's shortcomings.  He vowed to work on it further when he had the leisure time to do so. In Edison's words, as quoted by Hubert, " When I get rich I will astonish the world with it." Edison's fortune came from his next project, the electric light. And about 10 years later, he again took up work on the phonograph, determined to improve the product so that the human voice could be captured and then replayed. 

    Hubert's article appears after the new, improved phonograph is available.  He tests the quality of human voice reproduction by listening to a reading of Nicholas Nickleby played on a phonograph. He declares "...the phonograph's voice was as distinct and as loud as that of a telephone in good working order." Hubert is a music critic so of course he is interested in the new machine's ability to replicate musical sound faithfully. "When it comes to music, the present achievements are wonderful. The phonograph will reproduce any kind of music - singing, the piano, violin, cornet, oboe, etc. - with a beauty of tone and accuracy which will astonish the musician." 
    Something I found interesting abut Hubert's analysis of the uses of the phonograph was how he saw utility beyond musical entertainment. He anticipates audio books reminding us that "Edison estimates that novels of the length of Nicholas Nickleby could be sold in phonogram (a rudimentary record) shape for a few cents." In fact, he speculates that with some minor technological tweaks, a continues reading of a novel would be possible.  He also notes that "As a saving in the time given up to writing, the phonograph promises to far outstrip the  typewriter. The businessman can dictate to the phonograph as fast as he can talk, and the wax cylinder, enclosed in a suitable box, can be sent off by mail to read out its message perhaps thousands of miles away." 
    Hubert goes on to speculate about the phonograph's uses in the creation of all sorts of written material and concludes that "I really see no reason why the newspaper of the future should not come to the subscriber in the shape of a phonogram." The future is very bright for this new piece of technology, according to Philip Hubert, wholly because the device has mastered the reproduction of the human voice. 
    Well over 100 years ago, Hubert examined a new technology and correctly saw a bright future for it. Without doubt, the phonograph served us well through the 20th century and even today, enjoys a second life as vinyl becomes a new-found listening pleasure for some. The phonograph's ascension as a successful technology was built on its ability to reproduce human speech. Today's voice recognition technologies are similarly on the cusp of immense growth for the same reason. They have not only duplicated the phonographs' success in reproducing speech but have demonstrated a reasonable level of proficiency in understanding what humans say. It is this achievement that creates a whole new set of boundless possibilities for this new technology, possibilities that will present themselves in homes, workplaces and schools.