Key Differences Between Speech Recognition and Voice Recognition

Speech recognition and voice recognition are both rapidly progressing technologies with numerous applications that can enhance convenience, security, law enforcement efforts, and more. Though “speech recognition” and “voice recognition” are often used interchangeably, they are different technologies with radically different objectives.

What is speech recognition?
Speech recognition is the process of capturing spoken words using a microphone or telephone and converting them into a digitally stored set of words.

The quality of a speech recognition systems are assessed according to two factors: its accuracy (error rate in converting spoken words to digital data) and speed (how well the software can keep up with a human speaker).

Speech recognition technology has endless applications. Commonly, such software is used for automatic translations, dictation, hands-free computing, medical transcription, robotics, automated customer service, and much more. If you have ever paid a bill over the phone using an automated system, you have probably benefited from speech recognition software.

Speech recognition technology has made huge strides within the last decade. However, speech recognition has its weaknesses and nagging problems. Current technology is a long way away from recognizing conversational speech, for example.

Despite its shortcomings, speech recognition is quickly growing in popularity. Within the next few years, experts say that speech recognition will be the norm in phone networks the world over. Its spread will be aided by the fact that voice is the only option for controlling automated services in places where touch tone phones are uncommon.
What is voice recognition?

While speech recognition is the process of converting speech to digital data, voice recognition is aimed toward identifying the person who is speaking.

Voice recognition works by analyzing the features of speech that differ between individuals. Everyone has a unique pattern of speech stemming from their anatomy (the size and shape of the mouth and throat) and behavioral patterns (their voice’s pitch, their speaking style, accent, and so on).

The applications of voice recognition are markedly different from those of speech recognition. Most commonly, voice recognition technology is used to verify a speaker’s identity or determine an unknown speaker’s identity. Speaker verification and speaker identification are both common types of voice recognition.

Speaker verification is the process of using a person’s voice to verify that they are who they say they are. Essentially, a person’s voice is used like a fingerprint. Once a sample of their speech is recorded, a person’s speech patterns are tested against a database to see if their voice matches their claimed identity.

Most commonly, speaker verification is applied to situations where secure access is needed. Such systems operate with the user’s knowledge and cooperation.

Speaker identification is the process of determining an unknown speaker’s identity. Unlike speaker verification, speaker identification is usually covert and done without the user’s knowledge.

For example, speaker identification can be used to identify a criminal solely by their voice. In this situation, a sample of their voice would be checked against a database of criminals’ voices until a match is found. Recently, this technique was used to identify a South American drug kingpin who had obscured his physical identity by undergoing extensive plastic surgery.