Self-optimizing voice control user interface

A voice control system converts spoken commands into control actions, a process which is always imperfect due to errors of the speech recognizer. Most speech recognition research is focused on decreasing the recognizers´ error rates. In this paper, we present an alternative approach: the development of a strategy that minimizes the number of errors visible on the user interface, given a fixed speech recognizer performance. We introduce a unified view on the recognition act, i.e. the classification of an incoming sound pattern, and derive a self-optimization algorithm for the user interface. With this algorithm, each recognition act is optimized with respect to its own criterion, independently from all other recognition acts. As a result, the voice control system adapts flexibly to the demands of the respective situation.