Speech Enabled Applicationstechnology with a voice…
ICT Technology for Grassroots Applications
Vinamra Agarwal
Set up by alumni from IIT Kanpur and XLRI, Jamshedpur
Voice based technology and Solutions developer
‘One of the most innovative IT companies in India’ - Nasscom’s IT
Innovation in India 2004
‘Leading the next wave of Indian IT’ – Corporate Dossier, The
Economic Times
The company to develop India’s first high quality local language
Text to Speech software – VAACHAK
Best of India Product showcase at NASSCOM 2005
About us…
Prologix Software
…Includes all aspects of the human's experience
Screen layout and selection options
Input and output devices
Must deeply understand people, demographics, cultural and
educational backgrounds, and work practices
Must understand capabilities and limitations of technology
What is the Human Computer Interface?
Essential for ensuring meaningful transfer of information
Prologix Software
Prologix Software
Some Interfaces
Printer
Monitor
Good News!
Helps communicate the information to the individual in the form of
natural, human sounding speech.
Conversion of text into speech for Indian languages is now an
advanced, proven technology available for different applications
and platforms
Prologix Software
Prologix Software
Case in example… Uttar Pradesh
The most populous state in the country (16.4% of the country’s
population)
The seventh most populous state in the world
Approx 80% of population lives in rural areas
Literacy is approx 40% (more than half of the population is
illiterate)
Telecom density: 2.02 telephone / 100 people (Source
:www.bsnl.co.in)
PC Density: Less than 6 PCs / 1000 people
Endowed with fertile land, salubrious-climate and mighty river
systems
Produces 19% of India's food grains
22% of India's vegetables
Prologix Software
The Problem
Approx. 80% of Uttar Pradesh lives in rural areas
Only 40% of our population is literate - Almost 60% are those who
understand Hindi but can neither read nor write any language at
all
While almost every village has access to a telephone, PCs still
remain the tools of the rich and prosperous
But why is that a problem?
We live in an information age – there is no alternative to greater
computerisation of records, information, workplaces…
Intense computerisation being undertaken towards implementation of
e-governance
Most computerisation efforts are Urban/English/Text centric…
Which means:
These initiatives will cater largely to 20% of UP which lives in
cities
Even for work done in Hindi - almost 60% of UP will never be able
to understand a single word since they cannot read nor write
In Effect: E-Governance in UP will fail to provide the equality it
aims for
Prologix Software
Able to get across to each person of the state
Able to cross barriers of Literacy/ Illiteracy, Sight/
Blindness
As easily accessible over telephones as over PCs
Helps to get over problems associated with computers:
Strain on eyes
Hard to learn
Unfamiliar language/ environment
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Prologix Software
Prologix Software
Speech Technology in Indian languages particularly relevant for
grassroots ICT applications in India
large segments of India: illiterate, computer-unfamiliar, speech/
sight impaired, or print disabled
Indian Language speech: most natural, convenient and accessible
communication medium for Indians
An effective facilitator for Indian Citizens
An essential component of E-Governance solutions
Speech technologies are slowly making a mark as the interface of
the future for facilitating human/ computer interactions
Relevance to India
Prologix Software
Prologix Software
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Develop and deliver cutting-edge software solutions for the
wireless Internet and mobile industry worldwide
Key Features:
India’s first ever phone based Railway ticket booking
application
Innovative speech enabled interface made possible with the help of
OnMobile’s Indian accented speech recognition model and Prologix’s
high performance Indian language Text to Speech software –
Vaachak
Deployed on major wireless operator networks in India
Live Today…
Prologix Software
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Possible…
Speech enabled Kiosks
Government of Uttaranchal
The Uttaranchal Portal Project plans to set up a network of over
2000 Speech enabled Kiosks in the state
Key Features:
India’s first ever Indian language speech based Kiosk network
Immediate availability of all information present on the screen in
the form of clear, natural sounding speech in Hindi
Going Live Soon…
Key Features:
Application to read-out of election updates posted on the Election
Commission website in Hindi and English – in real time
The first ever Indian solution to help read out information in
English and Hindi on a website in speech format
Uses audio streaming to deliver information in speech to even
low-bandwith kiosks and Internet users
Allows the Election Commission to cross the digital divide to make
it’s information available to each and every citizen of India
Of immense value to the illiterate and visually/ print impaired who
would now be able to hear all the updates in their local
language
Can serve as a model for all future e-governance initiatives
Live Today…
Prologix Software
Desktop Reader
Prologix Software
Prologix Software
Voice Portals, eGovernance, Directory Services
Self Service customer service applications, Unified messaging
Telematics/ Screen readout solutions for handhelds
Education/ Literacy/ Screen reading solutions for the Illiterate/
Visually impaired
Prologix Software
Prologix Software
Accolades
…In software itself, though there have been the most conspicuous
successes, the field is limited only by our imagination — in that
IT fair in Tokyo that I mentioned, I saw fine text-to-voice
software that has been developed by a small software unit in
Lucknow. It was receiving excellent reception in Japan. It can be
used to quickly produce audio versions of books upon books for the
visually impaired…
- Mr. Arun Shourie, Indian Express, ‘When Sky is the Limit’, Aug
16, 2003
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Vaachak is the finest Text to Speech software for Indian languages
that we have ever seen in India
- Mr. Dipendra Manocha, Head, Computer Unit, National Association
for the Blind, India
Prologix Software
Accolades
Nasscom’s IT Innovation in India 2004 – one of 18 companies
selected from all over India
Best of India Product showcase at Nasscom 2005
The Economic Times, Corporate Dossier, 9 January 2004, India
Prologix Software
[email protected]
www.vaachak.com
