Speech Recognition Goes Mainstream

By Jennifer McAdams 7:50 PM EDT Tue. May. 23, 2006 From the May 29, 2006 issue of GovernmentVAR Page 3 of 3 A look at what's driving the speech-recognition market:     The rise of voice-related standards that make application customization and development easier. Those standards include VoiceXML; Media Resource Control Protocol, or MRCP; Speech Recognition Grammar Specification, or SRGS; and Speech Synthesis Markup Language, or SSML.   The need for busy, non-IT professionals to create more electronic documents, especially to comply with regulations such as the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.   Statutes guaranteeing access to technology for individuals with disabilities. Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act, for example, mandates that government agencies provide technology tools to disabled employees. Also, regulations require public schools to provide some children in special-education classes with access to technology. Others include the Americans with Disabilities Act and Workers' Compensation statutes.