TMCnet News
Carnegie Speech: Helping Overseas Agents Overcome one of their Biggest Obstacles TMCnet Assignment Editor If there’s one thing more frustrating than dealing with a clunky IVR
 that doesn’t work very well it is dealing with an overseas call center agent who speaks less than perfect English. Interestingly, speech recognition technology can play a role in fixing both of these problems. Let’s face it, we’ve all encountered occasional “language barrier” problems while trying to get tech support for our computers—or while ordering products from our favorite catalog. But the next time you find yourself in this situation, here’s something to think about: Very often, the problem isn’t that the agent doesn’t understand what you are saying, it’s that you don’t understand what the agent is saying. Agents who hail from India and the Philippines, for example, are fluent in English, so more often than not, they can understand you perfectly—it’s just that their accent can sometimes be an impediment to effective communication. And just try to imagine how frustrating that is for the agent! At least when you call and have a hard time articulating what it is that you want, your job isn’t on the line!
Helping overseas agents to overcome this difficult obstacle—and become better performers at work—is Pittsburgh Pa.-based Carnegie Speech, which creates software for testing and improving English pronunciation for non-native speakers. Using advanced speech recognition technology developed at Carnegie Mellon University, the company’s software enables call center agents to “self-train” themselves into becoming better English speakers. This not only helps them avoid the high cost of taking classes to help them improve their English language skills, it also helps them avoid the embarrassment of having to stand up in front of others and reveal their mistakes as they go through the learning process.
This can be extremely beneficial for companies which are operating overseas call centers, because typically these centers are run by managers and supervisors who themselves use English as a second language, and therefore might not be entirely effective in helping agents overcome their pronunciation problems.
Furthermore, there is a shortage of qualified ESL personnel available in many of the regions where call centers are now being established. With Carnegie Speech’s software, though, call center agents have access to a completely qualified “virtual tutor” which not only is available to give lessons 24x7x365, but is also able to give accurate assessments of each student’s needs and then measure their improvement over time.
The company offers two products: Carnegie Speech Assessment (English) and NativeAccent (English). Both are based on an extensible software platform using patent-pending speech recognition and pinpointing technology.
Carnegie Speech Assessment actually “listens” to a user’s speech and then pinpoints exactly what is correct or incorrect in the sound, rhythm and pitch. The software then “classifies” the overall quality of the user’s speech and provides an objective “assessment” which can be used to achieve improvements. This “assessment” can be based on criteria provided by the organization which is offering the training. Meanwhile, NativeAccent uses automatic speech recognition and advanced artificial intelligence techniques to pinpoint a user’s pronunciation errors and then show the user how to correct them. Carnegie Speech claims this product is unique in that, unlike other English educational software, it tells the student exactly where they went wrong, instead of leaving it up to them to “guess” and keep making new attempts until they come to the right result (i.e., trial and error). Furthermore, the software determines the best strategy to use to correct a particular user’s errors - based on their native language - and applies the methodology that best accommodates their abilities. Another benefit is the fact that the software corrects pronunciation errors in pictures, text and aurally. During the Call Center Demo show currently underway in Dallas, where the company is exhibiting its products, Carlton Ketchum, sales manager for Carnegie Speech, said the company’s products have applications outside of the call center industry as well. He explained that the software also has the potential for use in aviation, to help improve the English language skills of airline pilots.
Ketchum said although English is now the standard language of aviation, and is required of all commercial pilots, those who use English as a second language very often run into communication problems due to their accents. He pointed out that this can (and has) lead to catastrophic incidents where, for example, an air traffic controller misunderstands what a pilot is saying during an emergency situation. Ketchum said there are other potential applications for the technology outside of the call center as well.
Carnegie Speech boasts an experienced management team with years of expertise in the areas of artificial intelligence and language technology. Company Chairman Jaime Carbonell is one of the world’s foremost experts in artificial intelligence and language technology and is Director of Language Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University. CEO Angela Kennedy, previously CEO of Wisdom Technologies, brings a wealth of experience in sales and marketing, and CTO Maxine Eskenazi has published more than 40 papers in the area of speech recognition and modern language pedagogy.
What this company is doing is unique in that it has harnessed the power of speech recognition and put it to a whole new use: the advanced “self-training” of call center agents who use English as a second language. It is truly fascinating to think that a technology which is similar to that used in today’s IVR systems to interpret what callers are saying is also being employed to help improve the agent interactions that follow!
For more information, visit www.carnegiespeech.com. Patrick Barnard is Assignment Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard´s columnist page. |