BlueAnt Taps Sensory for First Bluetooth Headset with Voice Control
Sensory's BlueGenie™ Voice Interface Enables a Truly Hands-Free Experience
Las Vegas, NV - International CES - January 7, 2008 ...Sensory, Inc., the leader in speech technologies for consumer products, today announced that BlueAnt, a leading manufacturer of Bluetooth peripherals, will use Sensory's BlueGenie Voice Interface to deliver the BlueAnt V1, the first ever Bluetooth headset with a true voice user interface (VUI). The BlueGenie Voice Interface software suite enables manufacturers of Bluetooth products to integrate full voice control and synthetic speech output without the need for visual displays or complex user interfacing.
Users of the BlueAnt V1 will no longer deal with lengthy or confusing button pressing to access functionality. Instead, the VI can be controlled with simple phrases like "pair headset," "call home," "volume up" and "accept call." When it comes to checking headset status it will not be necessary to interpret confusing beep sequences or LEDs. BlueGenie's voice synthesis capability enables the V1 to speak back to the consumer, letting them know device settings including successful pairing of the headset, battery power level, etc.
"Improved safety functions and increased user friendliness have been strongly desired by Bluetooth headset customers," said Taisen Maddern, CEO of BlueAnt. "With Sensory's BlueGenie Voice Interface, we are bringing them what they have been waiting for with the ability to easily control their headset through voice providing a sleek and simplistic user interface unlike any other on the market."
By eliminating the need to add buttons or displays, a voice user interface frees designers to pack functionality onto small form factor Bluetooth devices and answers consumer demand for a truly hands-free experience. For example, voice dial and call answering capabilities mean drivers can keep their hands on the steering wheel and eyes on the road. With added functionality, the headset market is poised to experience greater product differentiation which until now has been limited primarily to aesthetics.
"We are proud to partner with BlueAnt to bring the BlueGenie Voice Interface to the V1 headset," said Todd Mozer, CEO of Sensory. "A voice user interface is completely natural to Bluetooth headsets which have little room for other means of input and output such as a keyboard or LCD."
In September, Sensory announced the BlueGenie Voice Interface for CSR's BlueCore-5-Multimedia silicon making it the first speech recognition software to be integrated on a Bluetooth chip.
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