We are all pretty familiar with voice search. Whether it’s Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant, most of us have used voice search at some point, if not on a daily basis. There are even voice search optimization agencies to help companies have better standings when voice search is used. We are creating a whole society around voice search, but where exactly did it begin?
The very first voice-recognition system was built in 1952 and she was named Audrey. Audrey could only understand numbers. After Audrey was created, people instantly began working to get voice-recognition to work with words. By the 1960’s, scientists had invented systems that could recognize vowels and a few consonants; they had systems that could recognize 16 English words. These inventions were a big deal and had never been seen before.
As time went on, voice-recognition systems continued to improve in quality. By 1976, another voice-recognition system was created named Harpy. Harpy could understand over 1,000 words which is roughly an average three-year-olds vocabulary. The invention of Harpy opened the door to a new approach to creating voice-recognition systems. This new approach allowed for more words to be recognized. This was a huge step in the 70’s. By the 1980’s, the few hundred words the systems could recognize turned into a few thousand words.
Through the 90’s and early 2000’s, voice-recognition systems kept growing, started gaining recognition, and started getting smarter. The first voice-recognition system was put out in the market at this time, however, not many people bought it since it retailed at around $9000 dollars. In 2009 Google put voice search capabilities into their smartphones. Since then, the power of voice-recognition has been growing and getting better and better by the day.
With the popularity of voice-recognition today, how can it benefit us? One way to benefit your business or company would be to hire voice search optimization agencies. Voice search optimization agencies help companies get their content seen by more people. This is a huge part of marketing, if people can’t find your website or blog how are they going to know how awesome your company is? Voice search optimization agencies work with you to create content and keywords that will make your website be one of the first to pop up after someone has voice-searched something related to your company.
The creation of voice-recognition systems in 1952 has changed the way we live our lives today. Information about everything is now available for us at the tip of our fingers. All current smartphones have voice-recognition systems, whether its an Apple or Google phone. In fact, some of our TVs and cars have these systems in them. Voice-recognition has changed the way we live our lives today in numerous ways.
Sources:
https://www.itbusiness.ca/news/history-of-voice-recognition-from-audrey-to-siri/15008
