Chant Keeps the World Talking with Technology with Latest Tool Set

Chant's new speech utility suite empowers Microsoft SAPI 5 developers with essential tools

Los Angeles, California, May 1, 2002—Chant Inc., the leading independent vendor of speech technology components and tools, announced today availability of a new tool set for developing software that speaks and listens.

The utilities, collectively known as Developer Workbench, are essential tools for managing speech recognition grammars, lexicons, profiles, and text markup for speech synthesis. Developer Workbench consists of four tools: GrammarKit, LexiconKit, ProfileKit, and VoiceMarkupKit needed by developers who deploy voice-enabled applications and web sites. GrammarKit is used for creating and managing speech recognition grammars—recognition contexts for speech recognition. LexiconKit is used for creating and managing speech engine lexicons—collections of words the speech recognition engine understands and word pronunciations used by text-to-speech synthesizers for reproducing speech. ProfileKit is used for creating and managing recognition profiles—critical information about end-user speaking patterns that enhance recognition accuracy. VoiceMarkupKit is used for tagging text to tailor how speech synthesizers reproduce speech.

"Developers no longer have to write custom software to test their applications," said John Earle, president and founder of Chant Inc. "With Developer Workbench, the tools provide an effective way to create, edit, and deploy the grammars, lexicons, profiles, and text markup necessary to enhance speech recognition accuracy and improve the playback quality of speech synthesis. This should accelerate the development cycle and enhance the quality of software that speaks and listens," emphasizes Earle, "which is critical to broadening the adoption of voice-enabled solutions."

System Requirements

Workbench tools are built upon Microsoft's Speech API 5 (SAPI 5) and work with SAPI 5 compliant recognizers and synthesizers on Windows® 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP environments. Recognizers and synthesizers require sound blaster compatible audio and Pentium class processors.

Availability

Workbench begins shipping in May 1, 2002, and will be available from Chant at www.chant.net and from other software resellers including ComponentSource (www.componentsource.com), GreyMatter (www.greymatter.com), Programmer's Paradise (www.programmers.com), QBS (www.qbss.com) and VBXtras (www.vbxtras.com).

About Chant

Chant Inc. is a leading provider of software and services that help organizations gain competitive advantage with speech technology. Chant helps organizations identify and implement the most attractive opportunities appropriate their company and industry. Chant is the first company to provide engine-independent middleware for developing desktop, web-enabled, and telephony applications that use speech technology. www.chant.net

Chant, SpeechKit, and Getting the World Talking With Technology are trademarks or registered trademarks of Chant Inc. All other marks are owned by their respective companies.